The Contract and the Guide
by rrenvy
Summary: Harry's subconscious pleaded in desperation "Please! Anything! I'll give – !" and a goddess heard his plea and offered him a deal. She will save Sirius, if Harry agrees to marry Severus Snape in return. Mild Slash.
1. Contract

**The Contract and the Guide**

by rrenvy

**Summary:** Harry's subconscious pleaded in desperation "_Please! Anything! I'll give –_ !" and a goddess heard his plea and offered him a deal. She will save Sirius, if Harry agrees to marry Severus Snape in return. Mild Slash.

**Warnings:** Mild slash. Language used not entirely proper (which means there will be cussing). Spoilers for all seven books, though only consistent with the first 4,9 books (in other words: with the first four and most of the book five).

English is not my first language and so corrections are very welcome as is all other reasonable feedback, reviews etc.

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Genre:** Drama/Romance

**Rated:** T

* * *

**Chapter 1: Contract**

Harry saw the red curse hit his godfather and he knew what was coming, he knew there would be no stopping the fall through the Veil. The only conscious thought in his head was a loud "_NO_", his subconscious pleaded in desperation "_Please! Anything! I'll give –_ !" And time _stopped_.

"_Anything?_" A smooth female voice said from behind him. He swirled around. There was a woman standing not two feet from him. She had long golden hair that she wore in a braid around her head like a crown, her skin like porcelain and eyes like twin suns, so bright and yellow they were. Her clothes were the purest white, the fabric so fine and translucent that it looked unreal, ethereal. She looked eager. Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know for what. "Anything?" The woman repeated.

Harry swallowed nervously before agreeing: "Anything. I'll give anything to save him." He glanced at Sirius, perfectly still in his mid fall, unmoving like everyone and everything else, except for Harry and the woman.

"I'll save your beloved godfather from immediate doom if you agree to marry Severus Snape", the woman bluntly stated.

Stunned silence and then... "_What!?_" Harry exclaimed his shock, blinking furiously. "Why? Who are you?"

"My name is Minerva, I'm sure you've heard of me", she ignored the first two questions for now.

The first Minerva that came to Harry's mind was of course Professor McGonagall, but after a moment of confusion, it came to him. He'd learned this while still in muggle school. "Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom and War?" It sounded crazy but a part of him knew this was true, this woman, while human in appearance, held a presence like no creature he'd ever met.

"That's me", The woman hummed pleased, "And I've decided to help you to victory should you agree to make a contract with me." She held out her hand and a scroll of parchment appeared unrolled in her hand.

Harry turned his attention to it, to read it but he didn't need to bother as Minerva summarized the main points for him: "You will agree to marry one Severus Tobias Snape before the end of the summer, remain married to him for the minimum of five years and you will agree to make it clear to everyone that you've done this out of your own free will, with no one forcing you. You may share the reasons behind this with your immediate circle of friends and people you consider family but apart from them, no one is to know. I will in return save your godfather, make sure he lives to see another day and I shall provide you the knowledge to defeat your nemesis, Tom Marvolo Riddle, the road that is quickest and with the least amount of casualties. Whether you choose to follow the road I provide you, is entirely up to you, of course." She smirked. "Just sign here", she pointed at the line at the bottom of the document.

"Snape will never agree to something like that", Harry pointed out. _And he's a Death – … No, The Order is here so he must have realized we've left the castle and warned them._

"You can assure him that after he has married you, he will receive the two things he desires the most, not immediately, no, but still in the not too distant future."

"The two things he desires the most?"

"One is freedom", Minerva answered, "I will give you the knowledge you need to remove his Dark Mark. He will be bound to his Master no longer."

"And the other?" Harry asked increasingly curious.

"The other shall remain secret."

Harry frowned. "Then how would I be able to give it to him?"

Minerva laughed. Her laughter reminded Harry of rain on a sunny day. "I never actually said he would be receiving it from you", She pointed out. "But your assumption wasn't incorrect. You will be the one to give it to him, and you will even if I don't tell you. You will, I have no doubt about that. All he needs to do is have a little patience, as should you, and before the five years are out he'll have received the two things he most desires in the whole world. You should probably also mention that his chances of outliving Tom Riddle will improve significantly. Tell him that and he'll agree. Reluctantly, no doubt, but he will agree." She extended her free hand towards Harry and a golden quill appeared on her palm. "Sign now, let's not waste time in idle chitchat."

Harry took the offered quill but made no move to sign, "But there's so much more I need to ask you!" He protested.

Minerva shook her head, smiling softly, "I promised you all the knowledge you need, did I not?"

Harry nodded hesitantly and then after much hesitation signed his name on the line in swift strokes. The moment he finished writing the scroll and quill vanished and a dark gray book appeared in Minerva's hands instead. She handed the book to Harry, "You'll find everything you need right here. The contents are ever changing, keep that in mind."

Harry stared at the book. '_Minerva's Guide to Victory__'_ it said on the cover in golden cursive. He opened it to the first page where he found a copy of the contract he'd just signed and when he leafed the book through, he found all the rest of the pages blank. He turned his eyes back to the goddess and was about to voice one of the many questions in his mind when she placed a silencing finger on his lips.

"All you need will be the contents of that book, a little courage, compassion and patience. Believe in yourself. Remind yourself that everything comes with a price." She offered her last advice. She took a step back from the boy, no, the young man – no boy could bear such a heavy burden and still stand straight, no boy could have eyes that old – and she walked past him towards the Veil. "I wish you luck, Harry Potter. May the winds of Victory be on your side."

She waved her hand and suddenly everything was moving again, all the noises were back. Harry hadn't even realized how quiet it had been when everything had been completely still. Sirius was falling again, Harry watched in alarm but then Minerva appeared next to him and grabbed the man's wrist and pulled him back away from the Veil, in the blink of an eye she appeared behind the gleeful Bellatrix and knocked her unconscious with a swift blow to the back of her neck. And then she was gone.

Harry stood silent and still while the Order subdued the Death Eaters, the battle quickly over now that Albus Dumbledore was present. Harry stood there with a book tightly held to his chest and he barely reacted at all when Remus came to him and promptly grabbed his bare wrist activating a ring portkey transporting the two of them to the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry took a seat and kept the book protectively in his lap. He was barely aware of Remus taking a seat next to him, looking at him worriedly while placing a steaming cup of tea in front of him. He barely noticed when the rest of the uninjured Order members who had participated in the battle, joined them in the span of half an hour. He wasn't paying much attention at all – he felt so numb! – until he heard Sirius raising his voice: "Someone grabbed my wrist, I told you! Someone grabbed me and pulled me away from the Veil!"

"There was no one there", Remus gently pointed out, he wasn't the only one who'd seen Sirius' most astounding survival but he hadn't seen anyone anywhere near Sirius.

"Sirius, even I couldn't see anyone shielding themselves from sight", Albus pointed out. It was vastly known that he could see through all forms of invisibility and disillusionment.

"I saw her", Harry intervened. His voice was rough, like he hadn't spoken in days.

"Saw who?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked.

Harry tried to say her name but no sound came from his mouth, he couldn't even move his lips to form the name. He sighed in defeat and instead replied: "The one who saved Sirius. She did it for me."

"This lady, who's name you don't know and no one else but you could see, saved the mutt just like that?" Severus asked with his most mocking voice. He considered Harry delusional and it showed.

Harry ignored the nastiness and shook his head, "Everything comes with a price", He parroted Minerva's words.

"And what did you pay, Harry?" Albus asked staring at Harry intensely.

Harry considered his reply for a moment before replying: "The discussion from this point on is something I should have with only the person involved before sharing with anyone else."

"Involved?" Sirius asked frowning. He didn't like the sound of his godson paying for his mistake.

"What I agreed to do requires another person's involvement", Harry took a deep fortifying breath, "And that person is Professor Snape."

All but Albus and Severus voiced their confusion. Severus was glaring at Harry, like it was his fault. Albus looked pensive and then he said: "Perhaps we should respect Harry's decision. If you would all leave us, we shall resume the meeting after the private discussion."

"I'm afraid you misunderstood me, sir", Harry calmly said to the Headmaster, "When I said 'only the person involved' I meant it quite literally." He rose and shortly addressed Snape: "If you would accompany me somewhere private." He walked out of the kitchen ignoring the gaping crowd. He knew he was acting rather out of character for him. He felt more mature, like he'd gained years in the matter of one evening. He had run into a trap and nearly lost his closest friends and the one person he could call family. He had agreed to marry one of the people at the top of his shit-list. He had lost all illusion about the war, he knew now from what Minerva had said that it would be up to him to finish Voldemort. He had no choice but to grow up. He had been touched by a goddess. He didn't feel blessed. He did feel older. So he walked out of the kitchen with his head held high, the book held tight in his arms and with the certainty that Severus would follow no matter how the man despised him.

Harry took them to the library. Severus followed him inside and wasted no time to mock Harry: "As arrogant as ever. Expecting everyone to pamper you like a prince. One might think the events of this evening would have forced some humbleness through your thick skull."

"Would you ward the room against eavesdroppers?" Harry requested and took a seat in an armchair by the fireplace. Severus narrowed his eyes but complied and then sat down across from Harry. Harry took a deep breath, let the air out slowly. He kept his eyes on the flickering flames. "I don't know how to say this. You're going to think this is a prank or something, you think I'm exactly like my father. But I'm not. I'm dead serious about this, I _swear_", a hint of desperation leaked into his voice, "Sirius almost died tonight, he's the only one alive that I consider family. I wouldn't joke right after something like that. This is going to sound ridiculous. I can't believe I'm saying this..." Harry trailed off uncertainly. He snapped his eyes to those of the Potions Master. "I need you to marry me."

"Excuse me?" Severus asked incredulously. He couldn't believe his ears. He had expected something more along the lines of help with a rare potion or the dark arts.

Harry nervously fingered the cover of the book in his lap, "In exchange for Sirius' life I agreed to marry you before the end of the summer and stay married to you for the duration of five years, to make it known that this is something I've chosen of my free will."

"You have got to be kidding me", Severus muttered, shaking his head in denial.

"I asked her what reason you would have to agree to this. We hate each other, after all. She told me to tell you that marrying me would significantly increase the chances of you outliving Vol–" Harry cut himself off. He had been trying to be as polite and respectful towards the Professor while making this outrageous request and he didn't want to mess it up by using the name Severus obviously hated to hear, " – Him. And that you would receive the two things you want the most. One of which she said was the removal of your Dark Mark, which she assured I should be able to remove in the near future. She refused to tell me the other one, only telling me to assure you that you will get it, whatever it is, if you agree to this."

"You're out of your mind, Potter", Severus sneered. He was entertaining the possibility that the boy before him was actually telling the truth. It was all just a little too insane to be insane.

"Do you think I want to do this!?" Harry raised his voice in frustration. "Can you think of one single reason why I might want to marry you, what I might gain from it? Because I sure as Hell can't think of anything! I signed the contract, I swore I'd marry you if only you agree and frankly I'm not sure I want to know what will happen should you refuse", Harry ran an irritated hand through his messy hair, "I hate the thought of marrying you but I know it has to happen. It will be for the benefit of us all. You're a legilimens, you know I'm not lying. Take a peek, if that's what it takes to convince you."

Severus pointed his wand at Harry, '_Legilimens_'. Harry saw the memories of the time freeze clear as they had been when they first happened and when he resurfaced he found an irate Severus glaring at him, "It's all blank!"

Harry blinked at him dumbly and then chuckled, "That should be proof enough. We both know I have no talent whatsoever in Occlumency." Severus wasn't amused so he too swiftly buried his amusement and instead changed the subject. He lifted the Minerva's Guide to Victory from his lap and showed the title to the Professor. "She gave me this." He could feel that he was unable to read the title of the book aloud, as he'd been unable to voice Minerva's name.

"A book with gray covers?" Severus impatiently asked.

Harry sighed, "So you can't see the title either. Figures. Turns out I'm unable to tell it to you. You'll just have to take my word for it that she gave this to me and told me this would help me defeat Him_."_

"_A book?_"

Harry smirked, "I'm sure you would agree that knowledge is power."

Severus sneered. There was no pleasing the man.

It was a struggle but Harry succeeded in pushing the words out of his mouth: "Please, sir, consider it."

Severus huffed, "What is there to consider? Do you have any idea what the consequences of such a union would be? All of wizarding world would be after my head! The truth has finally come out, it will be all over the newspapers tomorrow that the Dark Lord is indeed back (This was news to Harry, something must have happened after he was portkeyed away from the Ministry.) and you will be the adored boy hero once again. Were I to agree to marry you, people would think I had poisoned you with Amortentia or were blackmailing you or something equally wicked. All of the dark side would consider me a traitor to the cause and they too would be longing to bleed me dry."

"We'll have Dumbledore marry us. His support and the lack of protest from my closest friends will be enough to convince the people well enough." Harry argued.

"Do you have any idea what you're asking of me?" Severus asked. If his voice cracked a little, he'd never admit it even under the pains of torture.

"Everything comes with a price", Harry softly said.

Severus knew he couldn't refuse. It wasn't because he had been promised freedom from the slavery he had foolishly committed himself to in his youth. It wasn't because he had been promised better chances surviving the war. It was because in that moment, with the fire light making those emerald green eyes glitter, the boy before him looked so very much like Lily, reminding him of his guilt and regret. And the boy had said 'please'.

O O O

Dearest Tom,

Perhaps the war between the two of us began the night you murdered my parents. Or maybe when you sought to kill me during my first year at Hogwarts. The war had certainly begun by the time I fled the cemetery with the very portkey that brought me there. But it was never truly personal until now, until you used my godfather as a bait and nearly took him from me forever. - -

O O O

AN: Hi! This is the second fanfic I'm posting (ever). Now, this will be several chapters long (nine, I expect, but we'll see) and if you're wondering, the last paragraph of every chapter will be a continuation to the last of paragraph of this chapter, a part of a letter which Harry will eventually send to dear old Tom. It's like a little extra peek inside Harry's head. Thanks for reading!

Posted February 24th 2013


	2. Prophecy

**Chapter 2: Prophecy**

The Order members were impatiently waiting for Harry and Severus to return. Sirius was convinced something bad had happened. There was no way a Potter and Snivellus could spend half an hour in a room, just the two of them, and come out unscathed. Someone was bound to end up horribly hexed, possibly even dead. Remus was growing worried as well. His sensitive werewolf ears couldn't hear a peep from wherever the two males were. He would have been less worried had he been able to hear shouting. The obvious presence of silencing wards was anything but reassuring. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when both Harry and Severus walked into the kitchen uninjured an hour after they had left.

"Well?" Sirius said expectantly.

"We'll tell you and the Headmaster after everyone else has left", Harry replied, his tone making it clear he wouldn't be swayed.

With a barely visible frown Albus recounted what had happened that evening, his wording precise and he kept everything summarized, obviously in a hurry to get the meeting quickly over with so that he could finally get to hear what Harry and Severus had discussed.

No one had died, Voldemort had in a fit of anger appeared in the Ministry and faced Albus, though he had obviously expected to find Harry present as well but Harry had already left. Several Ministry workers had witnessed the brief battle between Voldemort and Albus and it would all over the newspapers of the following day that Voldemort was back and in full power. Most, but not all of the Death Eaters invading the Department of Mysteries had been apprehended. The ones who had escaped were the three Lestranges and Lucius Malfoy.

Everyone else was dismissed and when only the four of them were left in the kitchen, Severus warded the kitchen to guarantee their conversation stayed private.

"Is there something you would like to share, Headmaster?" Harry asked pointedly.

Sirius looked confused. Albus knew this conversation wasn't going to go well for him. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"I'm sure you do", Harry calmly argued, "And I would like to know if you ever planned to tell me. Because this clearly concerns me more than anyone. And you never told me despite the numerous chances you had."

"Voldemort couldn't know", Albus defended himself, his expression sorry and sad, "Your mind is too open to him. What you know, he knows."

"He already knew everything he needed to know!" Harry snapped angrily, losing his calm. "He already knew it was I and he knew it spelled doom for him! All the knowledge he lacked was whether the Prophecy outright said I would defeat him or only that I could and how, and the Prophecy is nothing but vague on both counts! There's little harm in him knowing the rest and I had the right to know! I knew nothing!" Harry blanked his face and his tone. "You told me nothing."

"I wanted to keep him on his toes, make him fear the Prophecy and you", Albus explained. "And I wanted to spare you from the burden a little while longer."

"It was always my burden to bear and deep down I knew it. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Wait, could someone explain it to me so that I too can follow the discussion properly?" Sirius asked.

"The Prophecy you were all protecting from Voldemort", Harry explained calmly, "It was about me and Voldemort and spoken by Sybil Trelawney to Albus Dumbledore. Voldemort knew the first part of it which is why he attacked us on that Halloween night, why he wanted to kill me. The Prophecy said, you see, that a child would be born at the end of July, one who had the power to defeat him. What he didn't know was that the Prophecy also said that he would mark the child as his equal", Harry brushed his scar with his fingertips, "And that one of us would have to end the other. See, after he had already marked me as his equal, there was no need to keep the Prophecy from him. With or without the prophecy the two of us will be after each other. He killed my parents and is a murdering sociopath, I can't live with that and he can't bear the thought of letting me live, me, who already half-killed him once. He needs his vengeance."

Harry turned to Albus, "You never even told my parents why they had to hide, did you?" When the man had no response, Harry knew he had been right, "I will be your puppet no longer. You want something from me? You'll have to give something in return. While I'm at Hogwarts, you'll be my Headmaster but outside of school business you will treat me as an equal, an adult, or things will get real complicated."

"Hear now, Potter – ", Severus began angrily but Harry cut him off.

"Do you really want to tell me my demands are unjustified?" Harry asked sharply. "Have I not behaved mature enough after my major screw up of the evening? You may treat me as a child when I behave like a child, I will grant you that, but both our lives will be much easier should you try and think of me as an adult instead of the child you are used to. After all, you and I – "

"I know", Severus snarled, "You need not remind me."

"You and him what?" Sirius asked, more worried than he would readily admit.

"Sirius", Harry started, his voice steady and serious, "You know I love you, right? There's no question that I would do anything to save your life. No price is too heavy to pay. You're the only family I have ever had."

"I love you too, pup", Sirius softly replied, "Which is why you're making me real worried here."

"I signed a contract with her", Harry admitted, "I made a deal, she would save your life and in return I would marry Severus Snape."

"What!?" Sirius yelped. "This is a joke, right?"

Harry shook his head, "No joke."

"I'm not sure I understand – ", Albus frowned.

"There's nothing to understand", Harry sighed. "She, for one reason or another wants me to marry my dear old Potions Professor and that will happen by the end of the summer. According to the contract I am to be married to him for the minimum of five years and this is to be known to be out of my own free will."

"But it's not!" Sirius protested, "You don't want to do this!"

"It's a price I am more than willing to pay", Harry replied, "You're alive, Sirius. That's all that matters."

Sirius turned his attention to Severus: "Refuse!" He ordered, "There's no contract forcing you to agree to this madness!"

"You can't ask that of him, Sirius", Harry softly said.

"Why ever not?"

"Can't you support me in this?" Harry asked instead of answering, "I'll need your support to make this work."

Sirius looked like he'd been slapped, "Harry, you know I'll always be there for you – "

"Then don't make this more difficult than it has to be", Harry pleaded, "You need to look like you're at the very least reluctantly accepting this. If people see you looking even remotely suspicious of Professor Snape then everyone will think that I've been drugged or blackmailed into marrying him. That can't happen. Everyone needs to believe I chose this. Of my own free will."

"Harry, my boy, surely there's another way to – ", Albus tried to reason.

Harry turned to glare sharply towards the bearded elder, "You will marry us before the end of the summer and you will be accepting and happy that this is happening."

"No one will believe you would ever marry Snape willingly", Sirius pointed out.

"No one would believe I would agree to marry Snape the Death Eater willingly", Harry corrected, "But what if I had always known Professor Snape was truly a spy for the light and only playing a role?"

"You're going to make everyone believe you and I have been having a most secret affair for the last who knows how long and that we're desperately in love", Severus was quick to realize where this was going, "You're going to make up a bigger scandal to draw attention away from the fact that we're getting married." When Harry simply nodded with a pleased smirk, Severus commented: "How Slytherin of you."

"Why, thank you", Harry smirk grew even more pronounced, "Who will wonder why the two of us are getting married when there's such a convenient and scandalous explanation. There is no way, after all, that we would want people to believe we've been naughty. I'm actually thinking we should have the official story be that two of us suddenly hit it off this summer, the good Headmaster found out and then strongly advised us to marry. A relationship between a student and a member of the staff might be against the school rules but the relationship between the two of us would cease to be against the school rules if we were married."

"You've read the school rule book?" Sirius asked grabbing onto the one part that made sense to him.

Harry chuckled, "I'm sure I've heard it quoted several times, Hermione tends to do that, but no, I've never read the book myself. I do, however, have copies of the pertinent sections here", he placed _Minerva's Guide to Victory_ on the table before him drawing everyone's attention to it.

"How fascinating..." Albus muttered. He could see the magical glow and it was like nothing he'd ever seen.

"This is the book that will help me win this war", Harry declared.

"It's all blank to me. I suspect only Potter can read it", Severus grumbled.

"What's in it?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Everything I need to know", Harry shrugged, "It's mostly blank for me too, the contents appear to me little by little. This is how I found out about the Prophecy."

"Harry, you shouldn't interact with a magical item of questionable origins, you know this", Albus reprimanded, "Doesn't this remind you of the incident with the Diary?"

"I know exactly where this book is from", Harry argued, "And I have proper reason to believe it safe seeing as how it is strongly implied in the contract. She promised me knowledge and this is her way of giving it to me."

"I do not like the sound of – ", Albus tried to protest.

"Oh please, you simply fear what other secrets of yours the book might reveal", Severus snorted, "It is high time someone forced you to share pertinent information with the rest of us."

"Will you tell your friends the truth?" Sirius asked Harry. He sounded resigned, and he was. If Harry didn't want him to protest then how could he? He could practically hear James rolling in his grave.

Harry thought it over before answering, "Only Ron and Hermione, I need them to collaborate my story. Them appearing suspicious would be even worse than if you did." He then turned to his husband-to-be, "What are your plans for the summer?"

"Brewing, preparing for the following school year, Order business, fulfilling the Dark Lord's whims", Severus answered reluctantly.

"As much as I hate the thought, the two of us should probably spend some time together", Harry dryly suggested.

"Why?" Sirius asked raising his voice in clear protest.

Harry sighed, "People need to believe in the story we're going to spin. The Order members need to notice us spending time together, possibly working on something. And when we're under the scrutiny of the public, we need to be believable. I'm sure no one expects any public displays of affection but they need to be able to see us at the very least coexisting, tolerating each other. Also, the better we know each other, the more credible our story is. It is my understanding that people in love like to share things about themselves. Imagine if someone comes and asks me when Professor Snape's birthday is or how he likes his coffee. I can't just say that I don't know and making things up and getting caught later would be even worse."

Severus looked vaguely impressed, no doubt it was because of the quite Slytherin way of thinking that Harry was utilizing. Sirius had been cringing since he had heard displays of affection mentioned.

Albus changed the subject: "I think it would be for the best if you stayed here for the night, Harry. It is already late and I'm sure you could do without the questions you will no doubt be receiving from your dorm mates upon your return. You may floo to my office tomorrow."

Harry stared steadily at the old wizard for a moment before nodding. He then turned to Severus, "Shall we resume the plotting after the school year is out? I intend to spend the summer here in – ."

"Now now, Harry", Dumbledore cut him off, "You know you need to return to your relatives. The blood wards – ."

"Are not reason enough to make me spend another minute in that Hell", Harry snarled, "I told you, _Headmaster_, my days as your puppet are _over._ You had your chance at steering my life and how did it turn out? Do you have any idea what my life has been like!? Who am I kidding, _of course_ you do! It has been clear from the very first Hogwarts letter I received, I was simply too blind to see all your manipulations. Too trusting to let myself believe that of you. No more!"

"Harry, what are you talking about?" Sirius asked worried and confused.

Severus had an inkling. He too had been too blind to see, blinded by his own guilt and persistent grudge against James Potter. He had known Petunia Evans, he knew it was in her care that Harry had been placed. He knew how Petunia had been jealous of her sister and had eventually turned hateful towards all things magic. He hadn't wanted to even entertain the possibility that perhaps the Potter child's life hadn't been all puppies and butterflies. He hadn't wanted to, but this rage and bitterness he was witnessing...

"Harry Potter, 4 Privet Drive, Cupboard under the stairs", Harry replied icily before grabbing his book and stomping out of the kitchen.

"Petunia kept him in a cupboard?" Severus asked, his tone as freezing as Harry's had been.

"It truly wasn't as bad as it sounds", Albus weakly defended himself, "They could have treated him better but he truly was the safest there."

"And so you left him there to be abused!?" Sirius bellowed rising to his feet in outrage.

"There was never any real proof of them ab – "

"The brat is shorter than his parents were at his age. He doesn't look well nourished. It's true that growing boys often have a starved look to them but he hasn't done that much growing, now has he?" Severus pointed out, his tone his trademark low and smooth, deadly.

"You have a lot to answer for, Albus!"

O O O

- - Nearly losing him – my last chance at having a family, a parent – made it so very clear to me, how utterly Gryffindor I had been. And how being a Gryffindor had nearly cost me, not only the life of my godfather, but also the lives of my closest friends. So I decided then that if my Gryffindor nature led to such disasters, I would become Slytherin instead. I knew I had the choice, the Sorting Hat's words still ring in my ears, clear as they were the day they were spoken to me. - -

O O O

Posted February 25th 2013


	3. Rules

**Chapter 3: Rules**

Three days before the end of the term Ron and Hermione were released from the hospital wing. By that time Harry had already made them worried. The both of them had noticed Harry was quiet and constantly deep in thought and Harry had yet to share his worries with them.

By the time midnight rolled around, Harry had finally shared everything with them. Ron was looking like he could get up any minute and stomp off to the dormitory. Hermione was going through all that she remembered reading about marriage customs in the wizarding world. It wasn't something she'd put any effort into researching. She hadn't even considered the possibility that she might need the information until after graduation.

Harry decided to save her from her suffering and shared the information the Guide had provided him: "No person below the age of fourteen may marry, and until the age of seventeen you need the written consent of your guardian, and in cases like mine, where the guardian is non-magical, also the consent of my magical guardian. Once I'm married I'll be considered an adult despite the fact that I'm still below the usual age of majority."

"That is one useful book", Hermione eyed the Guide with hungry eyes. She knew she wouldn't be able to read, from what Harry had already told them. "What do the school rules say?"

"There may be no relationship between a member of the staff and a student unless they are married. Which I already knew. I'll have to move away from the dormitories, to Snape's quarters, I imagine, and – ."

"Wait, you won't be staying here anymore?" Ron yelped.

"I'll still come hang out, I just can't officially live here", Harry tried to soften the blow.

"But it won't be the same, will it..." The red-haired boy pouted.

"You're being selfish, Ron!" Hermione chided. "Think about what Harry must be feeling! He'll be isolated from all of us, _alone_ in the dungeons and all you're thinking about is losing the company of _one_ friend!"

"You're both making it sound worse than it is", Harry chuckled.

"Living with Professor Snape doesn't sound awful to you?" Hermione blinked in surprise.

Harry chuckled again, "See, I won't be living with _Professor_ Snape. He won't be _my_ professor any more. For all intents and purposes we'll be equals. He may be a nasty person to live with but at least he won't be an authority figure with power over me."

"You won't be able to take Potions then?" Hermione asked, naturally focusing on the most important thing of all: Studies. "But you wanted to be an Auror, you need the Potions NEWT for that."

"I can't see any reason why I couldn't self-study and take the exam", Harry shrugged.

"Maybe you can ask Professor Snape to help you", Hermione suggested, "There's no rule stopping him from teaching you outside of class, right?"

"Can you think of anything more horrible than private lessons with Snape?" Ron asked sounding horrified.

"I might just be able to talk Snape into it. I mean wouldn't it be embarrassing for him if his husband failed the Potions NEWT?" Harry smirked.

"Any other useful school rules mentioned in that book of yours?" Hermione asked realizing Harry had never actually finished talking about them.

"While the others are rather ancient, there was one rule that was relatively recently added. It says that no one person may hold the post of the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts longer than a year."

"Wait, what!?" Ron yelped.

"So there's no curse but a _rule_." Hermione muttered and then asked: "Did you tell the Headmaster?" It was perfectly within reason that the Headmaster hadn't known. The more absolute school rules, instead of just guidelines, were written in the big book of School Rulesthat was located in a hidden room in the heart of the castle, or so _Hogwarts, A History_ had said. Only the Headmaster could access it and there was little reason for one to do so, so usually the book was accessed only when a new Headmaster was elected. Albus Dumbledore had been the Headmaster for a long time so if the rule had been added after he took up the mantel...

"Why, yes, I did indeed", Harry smirked and thought back to the early afternoon when he'd visited the Headmaster.

_Flashback:_

"Good afternoon, Headmaster", Harry greeted casually and took a seat before the man's desk.

"Lovely of you to visit, my boy", Albus said wearing his most grandfatherly smile and offered a lemon drop (which was refused, who knows what was in them...)

"Have a look at the school rules lately?" Harry asked lightly while looking around the office.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that", Albus started with a more serious tone, "As you might imagine, there are rules about married students and – ."

"And I suspect I know what the school rulebook says better than you do", Harry cut him off. Rude yes, but he was willing to live with that. He had no patience left when it came to dealing with the crafty wizard. "There's this most interesting rule about the DADA post, you see..."

Albus froze and then began muttering: "Heir of Slytherin, I should have realized. Of course the room has a parseltongue password as well as the regular one. Of course I never found the curse, there isn't one!"

"Other than that, the relevant points should be that I'll have to move down to the dungeons to live with Snape and I can't take his class anymore seeing as he won't be my Professor any longer, yes?" Harry summarized. When Albus numbly nodded, he continued: "Yes, I believe that was all I needed to talk to you about. I shall leave you to it then. Though I would like to recommend Remus for the post. Arrange him to leave somewhere far away during the full moon, that should appease the parents and if not, well, frankly, that's just too bad. Good day, Headmaster." And then he swiftly walked out of the office leaving a very dumbfounded Headmaster behind.

_End of Flasback_

O O O

Harry was for the first time in his career at Hogwarts eagerly waiting for the summer to start. He wouldn't be going back to the Dursleys. He had been _kind_ enough to tell them of this change of plans via _owl_. He sniggered at the thought ignoring the raised eyebrows he received from the others in the carriage. He would be spending the summer at the Order Headquarters and more importantly: with Sirius. He hadn't thought it possible to appreciate having a godfather more than he had already but nearly losing him...

Harry wasn't exactly looking forward to the time he would inevitably be spending in Snape's company but he knew it was necessary and at the very least he knew Sirius would be most sympathetic to his plight. Harry and the Professor had been ignoring each other since that night. He knew people had begun to notice how Harry and Severus pretended to not even see each other when they were in the same airspace. It was most unusual and already gossip was flying around. None of the rumors were even near accurate, but Harry thought the mere existence of rumors was to their advantage. It was a good thing that people noticed that something had changed. People would remember this when they hit the headlines with their marriage and the people would think 'See, I told you something was going on between the two of them!' They would be smug and they would be more easily fooled.

Molly and Remus were waiting for them at the Platform 9 ¾. The Weasleys were spending the summer at Grimmauld Place with Harry and Sirius, Hermione would join them some time later in the summer. They were traveling to Grimmauld Place by portkey. It had been easy to receive permission for one now that the Ministry acknowledged Voldemort's return and Harry's need for protection. The only reason Harry and the Weasleys had traveled on the Hogwarts Express at all, was that Harry not taking the train would cause undue panic. After all, if the train was safe enough for the Boy-Who-Lived to travel, then it had to be safe enough for everyone.

Molly hugged both her two youngest children and Harry and then ushered them to hurriedly grab the piece of rope Remus was holding. As soon as all of them were in contact with it, Remus voiced the activation key: "Flaming ostrich".

The group appeared in the front hall of 12 Grimmauld Place and Harry snickered as he gathered himself off the floor, "Sirius picked that, didn't he?"

Remus gave a helpless shrug as a reply, accompanied by an amused smile.

Harry nearly fell over again as a man shaped lump ran into him from the nearby doorway. He was only saved from the fall by the lump in question as it pulled him into a tight hug. "Harry!" The lump – Also called Sirius Black or Snuffles. Or Padfoot. – cheerfully yelled a little too close to Harry's ear to be entirely pleasant. "All summer, you and me!"

"And us and Snape", Ron muttered loud enough to be clearly heard, not that anyone saw fit to pay him any attention. Not even Molly, Ginny and Remus who didn't yet know anything about the upcoming events.

"Did Dumbledore try to speak you into going back to those muggles?" Sirius asked releasing his godson of the hug but still keeping his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"I think he knows how to pick his battles", Harry chuckled and then more soberly said: "I will have to visit them at some point this summer."

"Why?" Sirius frowned. He didn't want Harry anywhere near those child abusers.

Harry glanced at Remus and the female Weasleys pointedly before answering: "I'll need Aunt Petunia's signature. Don't worry, I won't go alone. I'm planning on asking _him_ to accompany me. Adding to the intimidation factor, and all."

"What are you talking about, Harry dear?" Molly asked curious.

"Oh we're just planning to ask Aunt Petunia to give up her guardianship of me", Harry explained, which was technically true. She seemed to accept that explanation but Remus narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I'm not going back there since I need to work on a project with Snape and we couldn't exactly do it at a muggle house. We figured there's little point in Petunia being my guardian if I'm no longer living with them."

"What kind of a project?" Remus asked.

"The secret kind", Harry replied smirking.

"Who is going to be your new guardian?" Molly asked, finding that more important than some project.

"Dumbledore", Harry outright lied. The Headmaster would have no such rights over him, no way.

"How nice of him", Molly said and then walked off to the kitchen to start on preparing lunch. Ron, Hermione and Ginny left to take their things to the bedrooms leaving Harry with the two Marauders to the front hall.

Remus glared at the two others. Lying to a werewolf was damn near impossible and while Harry was scary good at it, Sirius' thinly veiled reactions to Harry's replies were a sure indicator of the truthfulness of Harry's claims. "Spill", he ordered.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean", Harry replied with his most innocent expression.

"You're good, oh you're very good", Remus complimented, "But he isn't", he pointed at Sirius.

Harry huffed, "Figures." He weighed his options. Remus was a friend and near family so he could tell him without breaking the contract. He hadn't intended to, but if he didn't... "Let's go to the library and I'll tell you everything."

"You're going to wish you didn't know. Trust me", Sirius muttered to his wolfy friend.

O O O

When Severus walked into the Order Headquarters' kitchen during breakfast on the third day after the end of the school year, the reactions of the people present were varied. Especially as he pointedly ignored everyone present except Harry, who he gave a distinctive nod towards the library before striding there himself. Harry followed rolling his eyes in exasperation. Sirius cringed. Remus sighed. Ron and Hermione looked sorry for their friend. The rest were confused.

"Good morning to you too", Harry said as he entered the library after Professor. As soon as he had closed the door behind him, Severus warded the room. "Though I guess that was improvement. At least you refrained from any scathing remarks."

"Were you aware that you'll be moving to my quarters come fall?" Severus asked, clearly not pleased.

"I take it you weren't", Harry hummed. "I promise I'll spend as much time away as possible. You won't even notice me living there."

"Hard not to when we'll be sharing _a bed_!" Severus snarled.

Harry hadn't thought about that, "Huh... I guess we will. It would look odd if we didn't and you never know who decides to come for a visit."

"How can you be so... so... fine with this!?"

Harry scowled, "I've slept in worse places. If your bed isn't big enough for me, you and your ego, then we'll get a bigger one." Yeah, he didn't like being reminded of his cupboard. He decided to change the subject. "I told Molly we'll be working on a secret project, which is why I'm staying here and not at the Dursleys'. I also told her that I'm going to see Aunt Petunia to get her to hand my guardianship over to Dumbledore. I needed an excuse to see her, since I do need her to sign me over, just not to Dumbledore as a ward but to you as a spouse. I was wondering if you would like to accompany me."

"And why would I?" Severus asked.

Harry shrugged, "If you don't then just say so."

Severus shook his head, "No, I'll come with you." He needed to see it with his own eyes. The guilt in Petunia's eyes and the cupboard. He began walking towards the door.

"Wait, now?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Severus tore down his wards, "No time like the present", he said and walked out, Harry trailing after him, though he did stop by his room to fetch the document that needed Petunia's signature. Severus stopped by the kitchen to inform the other residents of the house that he was "escorting Mr Potter to visit his relatives" and that they would be back in an hour. As soon as the two of them were outside of the Headquarters' wards he grabbed Harry's arm and Apparated them to an alley near 4 Privet Drive. It was a short walk from there and soon they were knocking on the door.

A man with great resemblance to a walrus opened the door, face quickly morphing to express his distaste as he saw both the robes Severus was wearing and the much despised freak. "Boy! You said you weren't coming back", he bellowed to Harry.

Not wanting to make a scene out in the open, Severus pushed past Vernon Dursley inside the house. Harry followed him and pulled the door closed behind him. "I need Aunt Petunia's signed consent and then I'm off your hair for good", Harry explained as they moved to the kitchen where Dudley was stuffing his face.

As soon as Petunia laid eyes on Severus she rose to her feet and shrieked: "You!"

"Yes, Me", Severus replied with his most eerie smirk, "Hello, Petunia."

"You know each other?" Harry asked frowning.

"He's the one who got Lily involved with all that freaky stuff", Petunia sniffed.

"Lily and I were friends since before we received our Hogwarts letters", Severus admitted. Not like he could hide it anymore. Frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to. "You saw the end of our friendship", he bitterly reminded.

Harry realized what he meant was the memory he'd seen. He hadn't realized Severus had been friends with his mother. Now that he thought back he remembered how his mother had looked surprised to hear Severus, a Slytherin, call her a mudblood.

"Why are you here?" Petunia asked tightly. "We want nothing to do with your lot." Vernon was uncharacteristically letting her do the talking.

"And you'll be free of us for good, if you sign this." Harry handed her the official consent form he had found earlier between the pages of the Guide.

Petunia took the offered piece of parchment. By the time she was done reading, she was gaping. "You... You're..." She stared at Harry, horrified, "You're getting married to _him!_?" She pointed at the Severus. "But that's..." She was at a loss for words.

"Really none of your business", Severus snarled, "Just sign the damn form."

"He's old!" Petunia shrieked. "He's a man!"

"Wizards have longer life spans than muggles so the age difference isn't really all that big. And it's perfectly normal for two wizards or two witches to marry", Harry calmly pointed out. He too had been surprised when no one brought out these objections but then he realized the reasons behind them and couldn't help but find it all too convenient. "He's also my Professor and we hate each other, but hey, all relationships have their share of issues."

"He's your teacher!? There are laws against that sort of thing!"

"Why are you getting married if you don't like each other?" Dudley asked despite the fact that he was shivering in fright. He could still remember the pig tail.

"Irrelevant", Severus growled, "Petunia, sign the form, before I decide to get creative."

Dudley whimpered, Petunia paled. Shakily she placed the consent form on the table, grabbed a pen and signed her name on the line at the bottom. "There", she thrust the form to Severus, "Now leave us be."

"Gladly", Severus handed the form to Harry and walked out of the kitchen, he stopped in front of the cupboard and reached a hand to open it but Harry stopped him with a firm hand on his wrist.

"I'd prefer you didn't", Harry said, voice cracking. "There's nothing to see anyway. I haven't slept there since the letter." As Severus lowered his arm, Harry let go of him. "Let's just go."

When the two of them were just outside the front door of 12 Grimmauld Place, Severus said: "The Headmaster asked me to tell you that he has reserved the Sunday a week before the start of term for our..."

"Ah", Harry replied quietly, "While I have nothing against the chosen date, I would have preferred the decision coming from one of us."

"After a life time of meddling you can't expect him to suddenly stop", Severus reminded.

"Has he chosen a location as well?"

"Hogwarts, Great Hall."

"And who to invite?"

"I believe he's leaving that up to us."

"Of course he is", Harry muttered. "We're going with as small a crowd as we can, right? The Weasleys, Hermione, Sirius, Remus..."

"Hogwarts staff", Severus added cringing.

"Other Order members?" Harry asked.

"Unavoidable, I'm afraid", The older man agreed.

A moment of awkward silence before Harry said: "I prefer tea over coffee. One sugar."

Severus stared at him with a blank expression before smirking, turning to leave, replying: "Coffee, black" and Apparating away.

O O O

- - Perhaps we are fated to fight til Death welcomes one of us. Perhaps it is meant to be, unavoidable, I wouldn't know. I find I care little for Prophecy. All that matters is that there will never be peace, not for me nor the rest of the world, until you're six feet under. If you even are still human enough to leave behind a corpse when you go. I will see this to the end, this I swear. Call it fate, call it vengeance. Call it judgment, or heroism. Call it whatever you will. This began with murder and with murder it shall end. - -

O O O

Posted February 26th 2013


	4. Sight

**Chapter 4: Sight**

Harry refused to talk about the visit to his relatives beyond telling his worried friends that it had gone fine, he'd gotten what he wanted and there truly was no need for them to worry. He spent the rest of the day reading Minerva's Guide to Victory, and more specifically the newly revealed knowledge about seeing magic. According to the text you could see through near all types of invisibility and disillusionment, see the magic cast on items, wards and even learn discern the exact nature of a person by the look of their magical aura, to be able to see with a glance whether a person was magical or not, a vampire, werewolf or possibly something of a mixed heritage. Little could be hidden from an eyesight like that.

Harry wasn't sure why Minerva saw the information necessary for him to know, but obviously there was some reason she was sharing this with him. All the knowledge that had appeared in the book so far had been of great value to him. There was no reason to believe this was any different. So he read everything there was to read with real focus. Like his life depended on it.

Once he thought he had the theoretical side down, he began to practice. The first step was meditation of a kind, trying to feel his magic and direct it to a specific body part, in this case to his eyes. He quickly came to realize this wouldn't be as easy and quick as he had expected. This could take a while.

When Severus came to the Headquarters the next day, he found Sirius and the two youngest Weasleys peeking into the library. "What in the name of Merlin are you fools doing?" He asked.

All three shushed him. _Him!_

"He's been constantly doing that since yesterday evening", Sirius explained in hushed tone, gesturing towards the library.

Severus looked inside and saw Harry sitting in an arm chair boneless and looking like he was dead to the world. "Sleeping?"

"Meditating!" Sirius corrected. "He gets real irritated whenever he's interrupted."

"Why would he be meditating?" Severus frowned.

"He refuses to share", Ron pouted, "First he read that book of his for hours and then he started doing _that_."

"I see", Severus said, walked into the library and closed the door with a slam before warding it for privacy. When he turned back to look at Harry, he found the boy glaring at him.

"I was in the middle of something", Harry pointedly informed.

"You can get back to it once I leave."

Harry sighed tiredly, "Of course, Your Highness."

"Don't take that tone with me", Severus snarled, "You're the one who got us into this mess to begin with."

"I didn't have a choice!" Harry yelled rising to his feet in anger, "You know I didn't, and don't pretend there's nothing for you to gain from this!"

"What? The reputation of a pedophile and traitor!?"

"Well getting rid of the irremovable Mark for one!" Harry snapped. Suddenly his expression turned from angry to that of realization and he sank back down to the armchair behind him. "That's what this is for..." He breathed out.

"Explain", Severus demanded.

Harry ignored the unpleasant tone and wording, as he knew he would have to learn to do if he wanted to successfully coexist with the man, and simply answered: "The whole meditation thing, it's part of what I need to learn so that I can remove your Mark. I didn't know what it was for but since it was in the book I figured it had to be worth learning." He then turned his impossibly green eyes to Severus and asked: "I have to be able to do it by the time of the wedding, don't I? Otherwise He'll use the Mark to attack you."

For a moment Severus felt speechless. He hadn't actually realized how serious the boy was about removing the Mark. He hadn't expected it to matter much to the boy in the grand scheme of things. He was proven wrong by the very tone the boy used when speaking of it. "It would be preferable, yes, if you were able to remove it before or immediately after the wedding. Preferably before I'm revealed as a traitor."

"I swear I'll try my best", and Harry meant it. A part of him felt guilty for forcing the man into this mess. He didn't want to be the reason behind the suffering the man would go through if the Mark was still there when Voldemort found out Severus wasn't faithful to him.

Severus nodded. He sat down and after a moment of solemn silence asked: "How do you think you did in the OWLs?"

An amused, and slightly pleased, smile tugged at Harry's lips and then he launched into a long explanation about how he thought he'd done and he was happy to find Severus patiently listening, only occasionally offering a comment on something or the other.

O O O

Harry woke up to a sudden pain in his scar, it burned. Then he found himself gasping for breath when everything suddenly went white and he heard a heart-stopping shriek of agony. The sound wasn't coming from outside, but from inside his head. Suddenly sight returned to him and slowly the burning in his scar lessened. He sat up and leaned his back to the wall. The wall felt pleasantly cold and solid. As his brain began to stitch together what had happened he began to chuckle, his chuckling slowly turning into full blown mad laughter.

Ron, who slept on the bed on the other side of the room, woke to the unusual sound and turned his bleary eyes to his laughing friend, "Harry?"

Harry couldn't stop laughing for a good two minutes. When he finally had his breath back enough to speak, he said: "Just a funny dream, Ron. Go back to sleep."

Half-asleep as he was, Ron saw no problem with that and promptly fell back asleep.

Harry dressed himself and began making his way down to the library. There was no way he could sleep while he felt so... gleeful. He knew he wouldn't have to fear Voldemort invading his thoughts again or possessing him. He had tried and he'd found a nasty surprise waiting for him, judging by the obvious sound of agony. He very much doubted Voldemort would try that again. Harry was beginning to see a pattern here. He couldn't share the name of Minerva nor very much about her at all. When Severus had tried to have a look with Legilimency he had only seen white. Voldemort had tried to look with more force and determination and he'd obviously found something painful. Harry was no Occlumens but Minerva knew how to protect her secrets and no one would get them out of Harry no matter the method.

O O O

In the early July the much awaited OWL results arrived. Harry was rather satisfied with the grades he got, despite the fact that he had failed Divination and History of Magic. Whole lot of Es and an O from DADA. He would have felt more disappointment about the Potion E had he actually needed an O from it to attend the Potions class. Seeing as how he wasn't attending anyway... E was pretty good for someone who had no real talent for the subject.

Severus walked into the kitchen shortly after the letters arrived and rudely looked over Harry's shoulder to see the grades he'd gotten. The fact that he showed interest in Harry's grades got curious looks from those not in the know but he ignored them in the favor of giving Harry, who had turned to look at him questioningly, a raised eyebrow. Harry tapped the Potion's E on his result sheet and asked expectantly: "Well?"

"Fine", Snape huffed and took a seat while pouring himself a cup of coffee with a lazy wave of his wand. They had discussed the matter of Harry learning Potions briefly during one of their near daily discussions and Severus had agreed to teach him _if_ he had done well enough in his OWLs and if he promised to put some serious effort into learning. They hadn't exactly agreed on what would be considered a sufficient grade, but an Exceeds Expectations certainly wasn't bad, despite the fact that Severus didn't normally accept anyone below Outstanding to his NEWT level class.

Harry grinned happily drawing even more attention to their interaction.

"Harry?" Sirius said hesitantly.

"Yes beloved godfather of mine?" Harry replied cheerfully.

The man sighed, "Never mind." Perhaps he should just be happy that Harry was happy, even if he didn't know why.

O O O

It was early afternoon when Harry made his way to the library again, planning on spending a few hours meditating. He didn't have the chance, however, as as soon as he took his usual seat, Molly and Arthur joined him and sat down on the nearby couch looking at him nervously.

Harry returned the stare expectantly.

"Harry dear", Molly began hesitantly, obviously having trouble finding the right words, "You're making us worried", And by 'us' she meant mostly herself. Arthur was only there as her mental support. "It seems to us that you're spending all your time either alone or in the company of Professor Snape. That can't be healthy for a boy your age."

_I rather expected this was coming_, Harry thought suppressing a smile. "I spend time with Ron and Ginny as well whenever I have the time", he defended himself, "I can't really help it that the project takes so much of my time but it's necessary. Professor Snape has been helping me. We're getting along surprisingly well, actually." He painted a wistful smile on his face. He hadn't actually lied, though maybe he had bent the truth a little. He and Severus had been getting along rather well... In between loud arguments. Just the other day they had argued about the wedding invitations, more specifically about when they should be sent and whether they should include a secrecy charm to prevent the recipients from talking about the invites with those uninvited. Had Harry been allowed to use magic during the summer some hexes would have doubtlessly been flying from both of them.

"What is this project we keep hearing about?" Arthur asked leaning forward in his seat. He was inherently a very curious person.

"Top secret but not too dangerous is all I can say", Harry answered with an apologetic shrug. Project? There was none, except for him and Severus to get to know each other but as far as the Order members would know, there was indeed a project and while working on it, they had found love. Sappy, yes, but hey, that's the kind of fairy tale people like to believe in.

"Will you be working on it all summer?" Molly asked.

"Probably. It's really important." And that was that.

O O O

By the time his birthday rolled around, Harry had a pretty good grasp at the directing his magic to his eyes. He had been delighted to find this fixed his eyesight and he was able to stop using his glasses altogether. He was now in the process of learning to sustain a constant flow of magic to his eyes for longer periods of time. That required a butt load of focus but it was getting easier. He had also begun to try and learn to interpret what he saw. Different kinds of magic looked different. He had spent hours staring at charmed object, the wards around the house, the people living in it or visiting... Everything that had even a trace of magic in it. Everyone was curious to know what he was doing but after a few times they had stopped asking about it.

Harry's birthday party was great, Molly had put a lot of effort into making it special. It would have been better without the grim news Remus brought with him about Death Eater activity.

The high point of the day, if you asked Harry, was when Severus seemingly casually walked into the kitchen where the party was held and dropped a small green and gold wrapped box on the table in front of Harry, patted his shoulder and then walked out with only a nod of greeting to the other people present. The incredulous faces, that was the best, Harry enjoyed them immensely. Even the ones who knew that the two of them were to be married soon (and why) looked dumbfounded. Harry hadn't been surprised to receive a present from Severus but he did feel slightly surprised when he opened the box and found jewelry, a silver pendant of an owl attached to a long silver chain. There was a note as well telling him that the pendant was charmed to be a portkey and would with the phrase "Owl me home" transport Harry home (which Harry took to mean Severus' quarters, which were soon to be his as well but it wasn't something you should write in a note, not yet anyway). The present was a lot more thoughtful than he'd expected and actually showed the man knew him, or at least something rather private about him, that Hedwig was a dear friend, not just a pet.

"Snape gave you jewelry", Ron wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"It's pretty", Hermione commented and then gave Harry a suspicious glance. You didn't give pretty jewelry to people you didn't care about.

"It's a portkey", Harry explained as he put it on. This seemed to make most of them less suspicious. If it was a portkey then it was a safety measure. That's like part of the war effort, right? Right. Mystery solved.

"It's a pendant. A pretty pendant." Ron said the obvious, tone making his opinion on the matter more than clear.

"Yes yes", Harry waved his hand dismissively while smiling happily.

O O O

It wasn't exactly an Order meeting but all the residents of Headquarters and several other Order members were present, including Albus Dumbledore, to discuss the inevitable trip the children needed to have to Diagon Alley. They were discussing the matter of who would accompany them as guards when Severus uncharacteristically volunteered: "I have nothing planned for tomorrow so I shall be coming with."

This had Harry rising angrily from his seat, "Are nuts!? Or just suicidal? He'll kill you when he hears you've had such a perfect chance to deliver me to him and hadn't taken it!"

"I've talked myself out of worse accusations. He won't kill me without proper proof of betrayal. I'm much too valuable to him", Severus sniffed.

"There's absolutely no reason for you to take a risk like that!" Harry growled, "We've got all these other Order members, I'm sure we're not that short on volunteers!"

"It's not a matter of numbers", Severus retorted, "It's a matter of who can protect your ungrateful ass the best and I am the obvious choice if battle skills are taken into consideration."

"Who's going to protect your suicidal ass?" Harry snapped, his glare getting more and more toxic. Their captivated audience staring at the two of them shouting at each other from across the table was ignored by both of them.

"You disrespectful, arrogant little brat – ", Severus rose to his feet, his volume was rising as well.

"Yeah I'm a brat, what's your excuse?" Harry asked cruelly.

"I think we should all – ", Albus tried to intervene but was cut off by angry shouts from both arguing parties: "Stay out of it!"

Then they went back to verbally attacking each other.

"You're screwed if he finds out your true leanings", Harry growled with an angry wave of his hand.

"He won't find out. I've successfully fooled him this long, I think it's safe to say I'm rather good at it", Severus pointed out icily.

"I need you alive and you know it. It's not just _your_ life you're risking", Harry ran an irritated hand through his hair.

"I'm well aware."

And then both of them sat back down, calm and looking like nothing had happened at all. After a moment of stunned silence, Harry shot an expectant look at the Headmaster: "Well? Weren't we in the middle of something?"

O O O

The trip to Diagon Alley was uneventful, outright boring, so let's not talk about that. Well, it might be worth mentioning that the trip included a couple of rather loud arguments between Severus and Harry which garnered a lot of attention. The Order crew was careful to never leave Severus alone with any of the youngsters so that the man could honestly report to his Lord that he hadn't gotten a chance to kidnap anyone. And so that no one could claim otherwise.

A couple of weeks later, on Tuesday twentieth of August Harry and Severus sent out the invitations to the Wedding that was to be held on the following Sunday. The shrieks of shock were like music to Harry's ears. His inner prankster was enjoying this immensely. The two of them were calmly drinking tea in the library when the door was slammed open and Molly ran into the room breathing heavily. She thrust out the invite and shrilly screamed: "What _in the name of Merlin_ is _this_!?"

Harry thought it a good sign that she hadn't gone straight to Fred and George for an explanation. "We're getting married", Harry figured simplicity and bluntness was called for in a situation like this. He sipped his tea.

"This is a joke. Must be a joke", Molly muttered loudly and then pleaded: "Please tell me this is a _joke_?"

"I'm afraid not", Severus calmly replied, "The wedding is on Sunday, as the invitation states."

"_Why!?_"

"Why do people get married?" Harry mused.

"Albus won't stand for this!"

"Already gave us his blessing", Harry corrected.

"There will be a public outrage!"

"Oh I have no doubt about that, but this isn't a decision for the public. This is _my_ life and _my_ decision and this is what I've decided", Harry explained.

"You two don't even _like_ each other!"

Harry chuckled, "You can't say you haven't noticed our relationship changing. We – ."

"There is no _relationship_!" Molly shouted her denial.

This didn't sit well with Harry. He scowled darkly. "It is not your place to decide whether there is or isn't one."

"This is insanity", She moaned slumping against the couch.

And then Minerva McGonagall walked in. "_Severus...!_" Her tone was that of impending doom. "What have you done to _my cub_!?"

Severus shot a glance at Harry, silently requesting aid.

"You're on your own with that one", Harry smirked and received a glare for it, one that promised retribution.

"I assure you, Minerva, I have done nothing inappropriate to your beloved golden boy", Severus said (and ignored Harry's muttered "Could have done without the name calling"). "In fact, the whole marriage matter is all due to our wish to _keep_ things _appropriate_."

"He's barely sixteen years old!"

"And rather mature for my age, let's keep that in mind", Harry pitched in, tone riddled with thinly veiled irritation for practically being called a child.

"He's a student!"

"But not mine, not anymore, as you surely have realized", Severus calmly replied.

"The hate between the two of you is legendary!" Minerva protested and then weakly asked: "How could this happen?"

"He's a mean, sharp tongued bastard", Harry shrugged.

"And he's got thick skin", Severus further explained.

"I don't get too offended and I know how to respond in kind."

"He's not as arrogant as I thought."

"And he actually has a sense of humor, twisted as it is."

"We share a common goal, a common enemy."

"He knows how to defend himself and he has Slytherin self-preservation, I can trust him to not end up dead too easily."

"He – "

"Enough!" Minerva almost sobbed. She turned her almost teary eyes to Severus, "You know I've always hoped you would find someone to love. I simply never thought it might be a student of mine. And a Potter to boot..."

"Please don't remind me", Snape groaned.

"Oh my _God_", Harry gasped and then turned to the two ladies present: "If you would excuse us, we need to have an argument now." He then waved at them to leave the library and they obeyed the implied order without thought only to snap out of it finding themselves outside the library and a firmly locked and warded door before them.

"What are we going to do about the surnames?" Harry asked, "Do I have to take Snape or – "

"There would be even more of a public outcry if you, the boy hero, changed your name, the name of a prominent wizarding family for a muggle one", Snape sighed.

"Wait, you're muggleborn?" Harry asked gaping.

"No, you dimwit!" Severus growled, "A half-blood. My father was a muggle and my mother a witch from a respected pureblood family, the Prince family."

"Oh", Harry said, feeling rather stupid for that option to not even cross his mind. "I can't really imagine you going for Potter and having different surnames isn't very romantic."

"Obviously we'll be going either for Potter-Snape or Snape-Potter", Severus sneered.

"Little less venom would be nice", Harry calmly commented and then mused, "Potter-Snape doesn't sound too bad, kind of rolls off your tongue, doesn't it?" As Severus' opinion on the matter was quite clear from the expression of disgust he wore on his face, Harry continued: "You can always _ask_ your students to keep calling you Professor Snape."

"Oh that I will, that I will", Severus assured, an evil smirk gracing his lips.

"Perhaps we should let Mrs Weasley and Professor McGonagall back in", Harry suggested and Severus removed the wards with a flick.

"I'm surprised to find you both unhexed", the Professor said as she entered.

"I'm not allowed to use magic during the summer", Harry pointed out. "I'm sure hexes will enter our arguments when we're on more even ground."

"What was your argument about, if I may ask?"

"Surnames", Severus grumpily answered, "We settled on Potter-Snape."

"Lovely", Minerva said dryly and then asked: "Have you agreed on color schemes and such for the wedding?"

Harry narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "You're suddenly being awfully helpful."

"I'm hoping you'll realize what a huge mistake this is as you argue over the littlest things", She bluntly explained herself.

"Ah", Harry breathed out, "He always wears black so the color of his dress robes is fairly obvious. For myself I'm thinking red..." He saw the glare Severus was shooting at him and chuckled, "Fine, fine, perhaps something more neutral... Gray, dark purple or blue, haven't decided yet. We'll get creative with the decorations on Sunday, no point planning before hand when we can just transfigure what suits our mood. And no, darling, we're not going with all black and green and silver. Something more cheerful for such a joyous day." He rather liked the twitch he could just barely see near Severus' eye when he called the man 'darling'. There would definitely be more of that, he decided.

"I can't believe you're serious about this", She muttered and then left the library muttering to herself something about needing a stiff drink. Badly.

Fred and George cornered him to congratulate him for a brilliant prank. They gaped when he told them it wasn't a prank, that he was truly marrying 'the Greasy Git'.

O O O

- - I guess I ought to thank you, Tom. Because it all became so clear to me when I nearly lost it all. I had never seen so clearly, working towards a goal had never been this easy. That one moment was enough to open my eyes and make me resolute: I would do anything, _anything_ to make sure something similar would never happen again. I would lie, cheat, fake, fight, kill, die, anything, _anything_. Watch me, Tom. Watch and cower, this is who you made me. - -

O O O

AN: Many many many thank yous for all the lovely reviews I've received and favorites and alerts and goodness it's nice to know people are liking this well enough! :) -rrenvy

Posted Febuary 27th 2013


	5. Vows

**Chapter 5: Vows**

The day of the wedding was the first time Harry saw the quarters he was going to be living in. He hadn't honestly been expecting anything too dreary but he was still somehow a little surprised by what he found. The place was well lit and furnished in forest greens and browns. Not what he had expected, definitely more than he had hoped. There was a small kitchen, relatively unused by the looks of it and it was no wonder, seeing as how house-elves supplied food more than willingly as much as you liked to eat. The living room was comfortable and with two large bookcases. The office had even more shelf-space for books, though not much of it unoccupied. The bedroom had little more than a wide (more than wide enough for the two of them) bed and one wall-wide closet. The bathroom was off the bedroom and had a large bathtub which Harry was looking forward to using. All in all, the only thing that proved the rooms as Severus Snape's were the Potions Journal magazines on the living room table and the crazy amount of books with an emphasis on the more questionable arts (Dark Arts, that is), Potions and the related areas of study (mostly Herbology and Healing).

Severus was giving him the evil eye as Harry snooped shamelessly. When Harry was done, he turned to the man and demanded: "Show me your dress robes." When he received no reaction but a narrowing of eyes, he waved his hand dismissively, "Nevermind, I'll find them myself." He strode to the bedroom and began going through the closet. He wasn't surprised to find a very one sided color scheme. Black, black and more black. Oh! Dark gray! Before he had a chance to really dig in, a hanger with rather fine looking black robes floated out. He glanced at Severus who was standing by the doorway with his wand extended in levitation charm. He then eyed the robes. "Put them on."

Manners were overrated anyway, right? Besides, Harry had a reason behind his... well, let's be blunt, he was being a rude bastard. But as I said, he did have a reason! Two words: Rita Skeeter. No no no, Ms Skeeter hadn't actually done anything to offend him this time. And she wouldn't. To ensure that was why Harry had met Rita that morning. He knew the wedding would be the headline the following morning – Hell, he wanted it to be – and so he had taken preemptive measures and invited Rita to the wedding with the strict stipulations that she couldn't... interpret anything she saw or heard, she needed to be more honest than she had ever been in what she wrote. Or Harry would reveal her tiny little secret. Rita hadn't been pleased but she hadn't been ready to pass up the opportunity either. The wedding was scandalous in itself, even without embellishments and Harry hadn't denied her all right to speculate. She knew a good deal when she saw one. She had been invited as a guest, she was allowed to take photos and she had the permission to interview other guests if they should agree to speak with her. Harry had also already told her his side of things, the story in itself was article worthy. She was almost giddy. Harry wasn't. And thus his bad mood and short manner of wording his... requests.

Severus sighed and then with a handy spell switched the robes he was wearing with the ones he would be wearing in two hours anyway. Harry unashamedly ran his eyes over the man. The robes were fine, indeed. And looked much better on Severus than on the hanger. The robes were actually made of two different fabrics, both black, but one of them reflected light well while the other seemed to absorb all light like a void. Together the two fabrics looked especially wonderful and add to that the fine cut of the robes and the way they fit Severus perfectly. Harry felt like whistling. Perhaps it would be easier for people to believe him willingly marrying the man when he showed off his good build like that. Instead of compliments (he knew the man wouldn't believe him sincere should he speak any) he said: "We're doing something about your hair. I don't know what that stuff you use on it is but it needs to go."

"It's a potion to protect hair from fumes", Severus explained curtly.

"Ah", Harry nodded his understanding, "Well you're not brewing today so you're washing it off."

"You – ", Severus began to snarl his protest but was cut off.

"Yeah yeah, sure whatever. Wash your hair or I'll magic it clean", Harry then slid out of the room. Magicking hair clean was never a pleasant feeling nor were the results pretty. The hair would become clean, perfectly so and that usually led to frizziness. Harry's threat wasn't empty either. It was still summer time and as he wasn't married quite yet, he was still under the restrictions of underage magic but he was at Hogwarts so any magic performed there wouldn't be noticed by the Ministry. And the trace was on his wand and he had noticed a lessening need to use it since he'd begun to use his new ability to see magic. When learning the ability he'd learned to direct his magic to any body part and out of it and then after having had a chance to observe magic for a while, he had begun to learn doing magic the way it had been meant to be done before the magical folk had become lazy and begun to rely on wands. Of course laziness wasn't the only reason why wands had become so essential. Wands made using magic easier, but it also boosted the magic used through it. That meant that even the weaker witches and wizards could become proficient in magic with a wand while they could do little without. Harry wasn't lacking in magical power and so as he learned how to do it, wandless magic came with as little strain to him as magic with a wand did. He also rather liked the freedom he had with his new talent. He felt like he could do _anything_. That wasn't true, of course, but the possibilities were near endless when he didn't require specific words of wand movements to achieve certain results. As long as he knew how to mold the magic, he could probably do it.

Harry had been careful to keep his new talents secret, especially after hearing the Prophecy. He wasn't sure he believed in the Prophecy but he wasn't ready to fully dismiss it either. And so he figured something like this, a possible 'power he knows not', should be kept close to his chest... He had, however, told Severus. He needed to practice and seeing as how he was going to be spending a lot of time in the company or at least general vicinity of the man, he didn't see how he could keep something like this from him. Severus had been interested to hear about how Harry had reached this point and learned what he'd learned so Harry had done his best to explain and Severus had begun training himself, meditating when he had the time. It wasn't going as well as the man had hoped and Harry was finding it strange. If he could learn it, certainly someone as talented (and Severus was talented if anything) as the Potions Master could learn it.

Harry stood in the living room tapping his bottom lip in thought, conjured a full length mirror and then began transfiguring his own plain robes into something more festive. He wouldn't have dared to transfigure his clothes normally. Transfiguration was easy to cancel and with guests like the Weasley twins... But one of the more useful tricks he'd learned was how to lock his magical creations with parseltongue. No one but he and dear old Tom could undo these. He eyed himself in satisfaction as he was done. The robes he wore were now dark purple with two inch golden trims at the sleeves and hem. The look he was going for was royal and proud but also neutral. He was marrying the Head of Slytherin. He couldn't exactly turn up in Gryffindor colors. Granted, there was the gold... But at least he'd refrained from using red in any form. He thought the purple rather complimented the green of his eyes, who'd have thought? It wasn't the most common color combination, purple and green.

"I'll be in the Great Hall!" Harry yelled to the man in the next room and left the quarters. He ran his hand absently through his hair, which was a mess as always. Idly he directed his magic to grow his hair out and once it was hanging over his ears and relatively tame, he left it like that. Perhaps he should keep the new hair. He, unlike his father, didn't enjoy the mess it was.

The Great Hall was empty, which suited Harry just fine. With no audience he didn't have to hide his newly found magical talents. With a wave of his hand he moved the four house tables against the walls and the benches in two rows facing the head table. He narrowed his eyes in focus and the swished his hand and slowly purple, green and golden paper flowers of different kinds grew into existence, decorating the tables. He conjured a podium like fixture before the head table and decorated that as well with plentiful of paper flowers. He was done just in time, as not three minutes after him Albus entered.

"Oh! I see Minerva has already been here to decorate", the old man said.

Harry didn't correct him, didn't react to the statement at all. He wanted to be able to deny later ever hearing it should someone ask him about it. He was sure Albus would compliment Minerva and Minerva would then deny any involvement. Harry suspected they would then blame the house-elves. Convenient little scape goats, they were.

"Are you completely certain about this, my boy?" Albus asked worriedly and laid a caring hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry smiled brightly, "Of course. Didn't you hear? It's a love match!" Harry then blanked his face and in a slightly threatening tone added: "Don't mess it up."

The hand dropped from Harry's shoulder. "You needn't worry about my performance."

Harry smiled again, as brightly and insincerely as before, "Yes, I'm sure your acting leaves little to be desired when you put effort into it."

"And you, Harry? Will you be able to play your part?"

"You know I will", Harry smirked, "Isn't that what us Slytherins do? Wear our masks and play the roles we're given."

Albus looked sad at that, "You are not a Slytherin."

"If Slytherin is what I need to be", Harry slowly said, "Then Slytherin is what I am from now on. Watch me, Headmaster, watch me. You'll see. Tom might have been able to beat me when I acted a Gryffindor but now that I'm willing to shed that skin, he doesn't have a chance. He should have known better than to try and kick me where it hurts the most. Acts like that tend to make people vengeful."

"And you believe that becoming more like him will help you win this war?"

"I'm not becoming him, if that's what you're worried about", Harry chuckled, "Just evening the play field a little."

"I sincerely hope your plan will work", the man said sadly.

"Just don't get in my way", Harry then turned away from the man and turned his eyes to the ceiling of the Hall. It was a sunny day outside and so the charmed ceiling was alight with sun light and a blue sky with the slightest hints of clouds. It was a beautiful day. Too beautiful. It made him feel a little guilty for tainting such a day with something as false as the wedding was going to be. It was a day of lies and he would have preferred rain and storm to this perfection. "It's a beautiful day", he murmured more to himself.

He dug out _Minerva's Guide to Victory_ from one of his enlarged robe pockets and opened it to the latest entry. It had nothing else but the vows they were to use, standard marriage vows among the magical people, Harry understood. He made sure to have them memorized. He had already informed Severus of them and knew the man could remember them as well.

"What does it say?" Albus asked peeking at the, to him, blank pages from over Harry's shoulder.

Harry ignored the man. _As Magic as my witness... _He turned his back to the ceiling, staring at the blue sky blankly, _As Magic as my witness... This I swear. I will see this to the end. Whether it is the end of me or Tom... I will see this to the end. Minerva, guide me well._

He then walked out of the hall, placing the book back into his pocket, "I trust you'll welcome the guests, Headmaster."

O O O

Harry spent the hour and a half in the Astronomy tower, carefully hidden in the shadows while watching the people below make their way to the castle. He was mentally preparing himself. This was the one day that decided whether their lie would be believed or not. How he and Severus acted afterwards had much less significance. No one would expect Severus to show much emotion no matter what he felt (unless it was anger or irritation). Harry, on the other hand, was well known to hide his feelings poorly and so for this to work, he would need to look convincingly smitten and happy.

When midday arrived and Harry walked into the Great Hall, the guests were already present as was the man he was to wed. Both Dumbledore and Severus were waiting for him by the podium. As he entered, a silence well. The people who had been so excitedly gossiping were suddenly dead silent and turning to stare at him. He saw Severus turn to look at him as well and Harry smiled warmly. The smile came surprisingly easy as he noted the man's hair. It was clean and shiny, exactly as Harry hoped and imagined it would be. With his head held high he walked the gap between the two rows of benches stopping right next to Severus, in front of Dumbledore who was behind the podium Harry had conjured. "Shall we begin?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore coughed lightly and then solemnly begun:"We gather here to unite these two people in marriage. Do you, Severus, Harry, in the name of Magic swear that you are here of your own free will?"

"We so swear", both of them replied.

"Then as Magic as your witness, speak your vows."

"As Magic as my witness", Harry could feel his magic rising inside him. He hadn't expected that. It was a heady feeling. "I, Harry James Potter, take thee, Severus Tobias Snape to be my bonded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part." From the feeling of his own magic and the gasps he could hear from the audience he was relatively certain he was glowing. He could also deduce that it wasn't a common occurrence in weddings.

He could see Severus staring at him curiously and for a moment Harry thought he wasn't going to speak his vows but then the man seemed to shake off the hesitation and said his vows. From the widening of Severus' eyes Harry could see the moment the man's magic responded to the vows as Harry's had. He too glowed with magic. Then the glow began fading on both of them and at the same time the two of them could feel tingling on their left hands' ring fingers. They raised their hands in unison to look at the offending tingling and were rather surprised to find golden runes bleeding into their skins in the form of a ring and then growing into perfectly smooth and solid golden rings with no markings. It was utterly unexpected. They had prepared rings for the ceremony, they were in a box on the podium, and they had intended to exchange them in the next part of the ceremony.

Their eyes met and they silently communicated their surprise. Everyone in the Hall was staring at them in awe.

Albus cleared his throat and said: "May good fortune and magic watch over you, my boys, and help you live a fulfilling life together from this point onwards. You may kiss."

The last three words made Harry's mind freeze. _Kiss_. They hadn't talked about this! He had forgotten entirely, way too absorbed in thinking about everything else. _We didn't talk about – !_

His internal shouting came to an abrupt stop as he felt soft warm lips touch the corner of his mouth briefly. His eyes widened even more and his mind was drawing a blank.

A whispered "Control yourself" from his husband snapped him out of it and he realized he was almost gaping, a reaction he couldn't have anyone see if they wanted to be convincing. He realized then that Severus was still awfully close, leaning forward, his hair falling around Harry's face and effectively stopping people from seeing both their faces clearly. Harry blinked and then in under two seconds pulled himself together and pasted a fond smile on his face. It wasn't without effort but he was sure the smile was believable enough. He lifted a hand to cup the taller man's cheek briefly before stepping back.

Hesitant applause started from the audience and they both turned to look at their friends. Harry spotted Remus sitting at the end of the first row with a black dog lying on the floor next to him, looking surly in a way that only a dog could. Hermione was sitting next to Remus and then Ron and the rest of the Weasleys next to her. Hermione's eyes were glowing with curiosity and need to research the bizarre magical reactions to their vows. Ron was looking about as displeased as Sirius, the rest of his family mostly confused, unsure how to react. Confusion was the most common reaction among the guests. None looked pleased or truly congratulatory – except Rita Skeeter who was downright jumping with joy and glee and clapping her hands excitedly – but they were clapping.

Severus was eying his co-workers, who were sitting on the other front row bench. He was relieved to find that none of them looked murderous. While he knew he could handle people hating him, he knew it would make his life much easier if his co-workers held no hard feelings about this.

Harry held up his hand and silence fell again, "Thank you", he began, "For joining us on this beautiful day. It means a lot to us to have you here with us today. Now, I'm sure you'll all agree with me that a wedding is nothing without excellent food and music. So let us eat and dance." He clapped his hands twice and the tables along the walls were suddenly filled with all sorts of fancy foods prepared by the Hogwarts house-elves and the finest classical music filled the air.

They ate and Harry received hugs (he would have liked to call them congratulatory but they were more... commiserating) from most of the guests, Severus received some handshakes. Rita sailed around interviewing people and a camera floating behind her snapping pictures. Harry realized the camera must have been taking photos during the ceremony as well, the camera made no sound nor did it need to use flash in such a perfect day light. Harry made sure to stay close to Severus, exchange a few quiet words with the man once in a while and smile at him a lot as fondly as he could. He even laid a hand on the man's arm a time or two. Acting like it all came natural to him. He knew people's attention was on them constantly.

When both of them were done eating the delicious food, Harry took the man's hand and led him to the middle of the hall, the music change into a waltz and the benches slid as if by themselves to form a square dance floor with open corners.

"I hope your dancing has improved since the Yule ball", Severus noted as they faced each other.

"Probably hasn't", Harry chuckled, "Which is why you're leading."

Severus huffed. And then they danced. Nothing fancy, just a simple waltz. But they weren't dancing to impress. Slowly others joined the floor which made Harry relax a little. He didn't like to be the center of attention and since dancing wasn't something he was especially good at (unlike Quidditch)...

An hour later Albus said to everyone: "Perhaps it is time we let Harry and Severus leave to enjoy their wedding night." Harry could have done without the innuendo, he was certain he could hear Snuffles gagging.

"Yes", Harry smiled widely as he addressed the people, "Thank you, again, for coming and we wish you all a good evening." He and Severus then walked out of the Great Hall.

"What was that magic?" Severus asked as soon as they were out of the hearing range of others.

"I don't know", Harry said thoughtfully, "She didn't mention anything about it, I'm not sure she had planned it either. The two of us are exceptionally strong magically, it might simply be a side effect of that." He dug the Guide out of his pocket and checked to see if there was something new added, "There's no new information here. I'm sure there would be something if it was something we needed to know."

"I'm not comfortable with not knowing", Severus muttered.

Harry shrugged, "I'm not either, but there's little we can do. If it makes you feel better, Hermione is doubtlessly going to be researching the matter vigorously and her research skills are second to none. If there's something to find, she'll find it." The had reached their quarters Harry plopped on the living room couch patting the seat next to him, "Now as I promised..."

Severus sat down gingerly, "You're removing the Mark", he sounded a little breathless, not at all questioning. He hadn't doubted Harry's intentions since he'd realized how serious the young man was about learning how to remove it. He rolled up his left sleeve and extended his arm towards Harry.

Harry took the man's wrist and then ran a finger along the Mark, "Such a magnificent piece of magic", Harry murmured. Severus shivered at the touch and again when he felt Harry's magic sinking into the marked skin of his arm. "No one but he, and now I, could remove it. Not even his death would be enough to rid you of it completely. It is times like these that make it clear how much of a genius Tom has always been. He must have designed this when he was still in school or right after. There aren't many who could create such a thing."

"But you _can_ remove it?" Severus didn't doubt Harry's intentions, no, but he wasn't completely convinced Harry could do it.

"I'm sorry", Harry apologized smiling softly, "I'm making you worry with all my rambling", he covered the Mark with his hand and without breaking eye contact with Severus – he had already seen all he needed to – he pushed his magic into the construct and used it to break just the right spots of the spell. He then removed his hand revealing bare, untainted skin.

Severus stared at his unmarked skin with slightly widened eyes, touched it with his fingertips as if he couldn't believe his eyes and then turned to look at Harry.

"You're wondering how it could be so quick and painless", Harry stated, amused, "You expected it to hurt as it hurt when the Headmaster tried to tinker with it, which I'm sure he has done." Harry could see from Severus eyes that he was right. "But you see, the difference between what he and I did, is that I knew exactly what I was doing while he was simply trying to force his will on the Mark. It's a miracle he hasn't killed you while trying to affect it. Tom's Mark is such that should any get close to breaking it, it will kill the bearer quickly, but not painlessly."

"Thank you", Severus said after a moment of silence, his voice was rough and full of emotion. Relief. Gratitude. A little fear, as well. Uncertainty. He hadn't truly allowed himself to think that he might actually one day be rid of the Mark.

"There's no need to thank me", Harry shook his head with a wistful smile, "It is what we agreed on, after all. What you are doing for me, marrying me, is much more than something like this, as easy as this was for me."

"I am not looking forward to – ", Severus began to say when he was interrupted by a 'pop' as Dobby appeared in front of them.

The house-elf was wringing his hands nervously and looking at Harry uncertainly, "Harry Potter is an adult wizard now."

"Yes", Harry said slowly, not certain what this was about, "Yes, Dobby, that I am."

"Harry Potter should have house-elves helping him now", Dobby continued.

Harry blinked at the elf and then smiled, "Would you like to work for me, Dobby?"

The elf's face brightened immediately and he jumped in joy, "Yes! Yes, Dobby would!"

"We're hiring house-elves now?" Severus asked, his tone mildly mocking.

"Yes", Harry hissed, eyes narrowed in warning as he glanced at his husband, "We _are_." He wouldn't have Severus insult Dobby, his dear friend.

"Harry Potter and his bonded should have two house-elves to help them!" Dobby declared and snapped his fingers making Winky appear next to him looking rather pitiful and a little hopeful.

Harry sighed, "Will Winky agree to be paid?"

The house-elf shook her head furiously, "Winky is a _good_ house-elf!"

"Ah", Harry sighed. He could already hear Hermione nagging.

"Who's elves are these two?" Severus asked frowning.

"Dobby is an elf I freed from Lucius Malfoy at the end of my second year here at Hogwarts and he has been working for Hogwarts since. Winky was the house-elf of the Crouches. She too has been working here." Harry explained and then turned to the little buggers, "We can agree on your wage and stuff later, okay Dobby?" The elf nodded, "And Winky... If it is what you desire, you may become a bonded house-elf to our family."

"Thank you, Master Harry Potter-Snape!" Winky shrieked in joy and grabbed Harry's hand, making Harry flinch in alarm as he felt his magic respond to that of the house-elf's as they were bonded. He felt Severus shift a little in his seat next to him and knew the man had felt his magic respond as well.

"Dobby will fetch Harry Potter's stuffs!" The elf declared and popped away, presumably to Grimmauld Place. Winky too vanished somewhere. That left Harry and Severus staring at the spot they had been.

A short silence, which Harry broke: "I was planning on spending the rest of the holidays at Grimmauld... But apparently I'm not..."

"Your dogfather won't be pleased to have your time together being cut short", Severus pointed out.

"Aww, be nice", Harry teased and then said: "He can visit me here if he can't wait until Christmas."

"The mutt isn't setting a paw in this place", Severus snarled.

"Whatever you say, darling", Harry waved his dismissively, making it obvious with his tone he wasn't agreeing despite the words spoken.

"And I'm not spending Christmas anywhere near him", the man added.

"Yes yes", Harry replied lightly and moved to the kitchen to prepare a pot of tea.

"I won't have anything to do with him, you understand?"

"Uh huh."

"Potter!"

Harry couldn't help but smirk evilly.

O O O

Harry was in a brilliant mood as he read the Daily Prophet. He had slept well, much better than he had expected, actually. The bed was wide and just soft enough without feeling like it's trying to swallow you. He had also been pleasantly surprised by how silent a sleeper Severus was. Harry had had trouble sleeping all summer when he was sharing a room with Ron and couldn't put up silencing wards to keep out his best friend's snores. While Harry wouldn't admit it even under pains of torture, he thought his sleep might have been better than ever before and partly because it was in _Severus'_ bed he was sleeping and with the man sleeping there with him. It was the subconscious knowledge that should they be attacked, the man would defend him and should Harry get mentally attacked by Voldemort, the man would know what to do, unlike his year mates in the Gryffindor tower.

But having slept well wasn't enough to explain Harry's ridiculously good mood, no, the rest was all due to the article in the Prophet written by good old Skeeter. She had kept her end of the deal and she had been _brilliant_. The article was several pages long (it took approximately 70% of the thicker-than-usual newspaper) and it had the most specific recount of the wedding. It had every single word spoken during the ceremony, accurately described reactions of all involved and some of the guests. There were a dozen photos, half of those of Harry and Severus, the rest of the guests. There were interviews as well. The article gave exactly the kind of message that Harry had hoped for. It told of a wedding between a teacher and a student, shocking even those closest to the two of them and how they were so clearly in love that magic had seen it fit to present itself during the vows in the form of glow and mysteriously appearing rings. And the headline? _The Love Story Between the Hated Potions' Professor and the Boy-Who-Lived. The Most Shocking and Sweet Wedding of the Century! _It was delicious and it was written in letters so big that the headline took half of the front page leaving the other half for a photo of Harry and Severus dancing.

The bedroom door opened to reveal Severus. He looked surprised to find Harry sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and reading the paper. "You are up early."

"Force of habit", Harry shrugged and went back to reading the article (for the second time) chuckling softly to himself.

Severus poured himself a cup of coffee which Harry had prepared and sat down across from Harry. He gestured towards the paper and asked: "Do I want to know?"

"She paints you in a surprisingly good light, actually", Harry hummed happily, "She only alludes to my rather young age once and even then she points out that obviously I'm a mature young man if you look at all the things I've been through, Triwizard Tournament and battling Death Eaters in the Ministry. And you must have noticed me due to my maturity and not any perversion on your part. The article paints a very shocking and sweet love story, realistic enough to still be believable yet scandalous enough that people will _want_ to believe it. As I hoped, she added several paragraphs of theories on how we might have begun our affair before the summer and so on." Harry took a sip of tea and added: "Of course the fact that you're a publicly suspected Death Eater is mentioned and then she states that clearly you can't be a Death Eater if I see you as worthy of myself. There might also be a mention or two about you perhaps going soft..."

Severus rubbed his face tiredly and sighed, "The Potions' class is going to be Hell to control, isn't it?"

"Try to think positive: You'll get to take loads of points from all the houses, Gryffindor especially", Harry chuckled.

"My Slytherins won't listen to me."

"They will, once you show them that you're still not one to be messed with and that while you might be married to the 'golden boy' of Gryffindor, you most definitely are still on their side when it comes to the battle between houses", Harry reassured.

"This is rather good coffee", Severus reluctantly complimented.

"I'm rather good in the kitchen in general", Harry smirked.

Severus narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Wouldn't think so from your performance in the Potions lab."

"That's an entirely different cauldron of flobberworms", Harry shrugged, "It also doesn't help that _your Slytherins_ tend to find great enjoyment in throwing stuff in my cauldron and you keep vanishing my attempts before I get to finish."

"They were worthless attempts", Severus sneered.

"They would have been better without other people's additions to it", Harry replied a little snippily.

"A shielding ward around your cauldron, perhaps?" Severus suggested, tone indicating it was the most obvious and simple solution.

"So that you could have criticized me for '_showing off'_ or whatever happened to strike your fancy?"

Severus decided to end the verbal battle, "Well, we shall see what you're capable of when we begin our private lessons."

"We shall", Harry agreed and then went back to his tea and the Prophet like nothing had happened. If there was something the two of them had learned during the summer it was how to put their volatile arguments behind them once they were over with. If they dwelt on every insult exchanged they would never be able to stand each other's company. After a few minutes of silence, Harry tapped a photo with his index finger and announced: "This is going on the mantle."

O O O

It was two hours later that Harry fell from his seat on the couch to his knees on the floor clutching his head in blinding pain. Alarmed, Severus rose from his seat on the nearby armchair, dropped the book he had been reading and strode to the shivering Harry. "Harry?" The young man was breathing heavy, every breath ending in a slight hitch. He was scrunching his face in obvious agony, little moans slipping from his lips.

Not thirty seconds after the pain had begun Harry began to first snicker and then outright laugh. He was still obviously in pain, though it was more manageable. He opened his eyes and looked at the concerned eyes of his husband. He smirked widely and said: "He's mad, furious. You can't even imagine. I've never felt him this mad before!" Harry laughed breathlessly as Severus pulled him up from the floor and back to the couch. Harry's legs wouldn't have supported his weight well enough to manage such a feat.

"You were expecting this?" Severus asked.

"Two hours ago!" Harry admitted cheerfully, "Right after the Prophet was delivered but he mustn't have gotten his hands on one until just now."

"How can you be so happy when you're so obviously in pain?" Severus asked frowning.

"Oh, _darling_, I've gone through much worse pains because of this scar and this time I had both the privilege to know this was coming before hand _and_ know this is extremely good for our side and bad for his", Harry explained, chuckles still slipping from his lips.

"Would you like a pain numbing potion?" The man offered after a moment of listening to Harry's irregular breathing.

"Nah", Harry shook his head carefully, "It's already getting easier to deal with. He's calming down and my magic is repairing the damage."

"There's actual damage from these fits?" Severus asked frowning once again.

"Nothing you need to worry about. My magic has healed a lot worse. I never realized it though, before I learned to feel my magic properly."

It was then that Dobby and Winky popped in with a pot of herb tea, the kind to relieve headaches, and two bucketfuls of letters addressed to either one or both of them. They had already been screened by the two elves and the ones with hexes and the Howlers had been disposed of. Neither Harry or Severus were looking forward to looking through the mountain of letters which they knew would mostly be hateful ramblings of total strangers.

O O O

- - I married Severus Snape today and I took him from you. You might think this was just to taunt you, add insult to injury. While I can't deny that this began with your actions, I want you to know that the reason I married him had less to do with hate and more to do with love. You might not believe in love like I've learned to, but it was out of love that I agreed to this marriage. - -

O O O

Posted February 28th 2013


	6. Shards

**Chapter 6: Shards**

Albus stumbled into their living room as they were reading in comfortable silence, Severus a Potions Journal and Harry the DADA book for the sixth year. Both looked at the old wizard worriedly. The man was _stumbling_ and needed to lean on the backrest of the couch to keep upright. "Severus, please help me."

Both of them were on their feet and Harry helped Albus on the couch. Severus asked: "What happened?" His eyes were drawn to the blackened hand.

Harry directed his magic to his eyes and looked at the hand and the ring on it. "A cursed ring? Really?" He couldn't believe his eyes, that something as simple as that could have beaten the wise man of over hundred years of life experience. "A _ring_?"

"Severus, you're my only hope. I know none with your knowledge in the Dark Arts", Albus pleaded the man to help him with his eyes and tone.

Severus looked thoughtful and then turned to Harry with a questioningly raised eyebrow. Harry returned the look evenly and then muttered, "I'm almost tempted to leave him to suffer for falling for something as silly as a _ring_."

Harry then reached out to touch the blackened hand of the Headmaster but the hand was hastily pulled away and Albus snapped: "Don't touch it! We cannot have you fall to a curse!"

"Do shut up, Albus", Severus snarled, "I think it's clear from the state of your hand that you're not the most knowledgeable when it comes to curses. You hardly have the right to offer us advice."

Harry grabbed the hand none too gently and pulled the ring off – and it wasn't even pretty... Why on earth would the Headmaster want to wear such a thing? – and placed it absentmindedly on the Guide that sat on the couch next to the Headmaster. He then put some effort into poking the cursed limb with his magic and observing the results. He was rather confident this was a creation of Voldemort's. Not Tom Riddle's, it was nowhere near as brilliant as the Dark Mark, but it was still pretty impressive. And deadly. But also easily fixable for someone who knew how to undo the Mark. "He's going to need some restorative potions", Harry told Severus who nodded and left to raid his potions cabinet which he always kept extremely well stocked.

"It will be no use, my boy", Albus said shaking his head sadly, "Something as simple as that won't make any difference with a curse like this in effect."

"Which is why I'll be first removing it and then feeding you those potions and not the other way around", Harry muttered dryly and then smirked victoriously as he broke the curse with one mighty push of magic. He knew Albus had felt it too, as the man's eyes widened in shock.

Harry let go of the man's hand and just as he backed away from him, Severus returned with three bottles of potions and promptly fed them to the stunned and unresisting Headmaster. The two of them stared at the man until he looked like he was back from the land of the utterly disbelieving. "Did you not wonder why I wasn't either in immense pain or dead due to the Dark Lord using his Mark against me?"

"You're saying Harry removed it?" Albus asked slowly.

"Why, yes, that's exactly what he's saying", Harry replied with slight growl of dissatisfaction in his voice, "As per our deal."

"I did wonder what could be reason for Severus to agree to this arrangement", Albus nodded in thought.

"What's with the ring, Albus?" Severus growled.

"It's nothing of – ", Albus began to deny its importance when their attention was drawn to the dimly glowing book on the couch.

"Headmaster?" Harry asked with a slightly feral looking grin, "Is there something you would like to share with the class? Or would you prefer I find out from the book instead?"

Albus sighed, resigned, "Harry, you must understand, all I had before this evening were suspicions. I didn't have any real proof until I found this ring."

"And even after discovering the aforementioned proof you still had no intention of sharing this with us, yes, I'm sure we're both perfectly aware of this. Get to the point", Harry snarled.

"Voldemort created Horcruxes", Albus bluntly said. Harry hadn't ever heard the term and from the expression on Severus' face, he hadn't either. "Horcruxes are the blackest of Dark Arts, something even the Dark wizards consider forbidden. A Horcrux is an item in which one places a piece of their own soul to anchor their soul to this plane of existence should the physical body die, essentially making them immortal."

"You're telling us Tom ripped his soul to shreds just to stay alive?" Harry asked. He suddenly felt very cold.

"You said _'Horcruxes'_", Severus said, "You're saying he made more than one of these abominations?"

"The Diary, that possessed Ms Weasley, was one", Albus gravely explained, "And this ring", he gestured towards the ring on top of the book next to him, "is another. I do not know how many he made but if he made two then there's reason to believe he might have made more."

"You knew the ring was a Horcrux and still put it on?" Harry asked incredulously, his tone all but voicing what he was thinking: _Are you stupid?_

"It had a compulsion – "

"And you're not strong enough to fight a mere compulsion charm?" Harry didn't believe that for a minute.

Albus decided to abandon that excuse and instead more truthfully explained: "I've been looking for this ring for several decades. It's – " He tried to pick up the ring but instead nearly got his fingers bitten off by a suddenly very toothy book. The ring fell on the couch and was then swiftly swallowed by the book which then returned to normal. "What – ?" Albus tried to touch the book but got zapped by something that felt rather electric as soon as his fingertips touched the cover.

"No one but Potter can touch the book", Severus pointed out, his face carefully blank. He was smiling wickedly inside. It had been rather intentional that he hadn't warned the man before. "I haven't seen it act like that before, though."

"I need that ring back", Albus protested.

"When you got yourself fatally cursed by it, you lost your right to it", Harry decided, "You might get it back when I'm done with it. If I find that it belongs to you and not some past victim of Tom's, in which case I'm delivering it to its rightful owner."

O O O

The following morning Severus found Harry in the kitchen drinking his morning tea again and Dobby loading the kitchen cabinets with food supplies (Severus never saw the need to cook himself when he could just as well eat in the Great Hall or have the elves deliver something for him). There was a black paper crane on the table before the young man and he was holding the cursed ring eye-level and staring at it intensely. "Are you sure you should be touching it?" Severus asked as he sat down.

"It's no longer cursed, if that's what you mean", Harry absentmindedly replied. He didn't even glance at Severus, didn't take his eyes off the ring at all.

"And what is th – ?" Severus reached out to touch the crane.

"Don't touch that", Harry warned sharply before Severus' fingers had the change to make contact with the black paper, "That, on the other hand, is very much bad for your health should you make the mistake of touching it."

"You moved the curse from the ring to this?" The man pointed at the paper animal.

Harry nodded, "And the Horcrux and everything else dear old Tom had cast on it." He then looked at the bird thoughtfully, "We should probably get rid of that before someone does get hurt." He then snapped his fingers and the paper burned in black flames and was reduced to nothing in two seconds flat. He then turned his eyes back to the ring he was still holding. "This ring is still awfully loaded with magic. I've never _seen_ anything like it. No wonder the Headmaster desires it so."

"And are you going to give it to him?"

Harry smirked, "Only if he can prove it is rightfully his."

"Why do I get the feeling you're keeping it from him just to be cruel?" Severus could feel the corners of his mouth twitching. He was amused.

"Ah, but it's so much fun, how could I resist?" Harry then slipped the ring on his left middle finger and charmed it so that none, but those who knew he had it, could see it.

"Dobby has seen something similar to the paper birdie in the castle", Dobby suddenly said.

Harry turned to look at the elf, "Oh? There's someone else here with Origami as a hobby?"

"You make these folded paper things as a hobby?" Severus asked Harry. He couldn't really see how something like that could be fun.

"It's relaxing", Harry explained, "And one of the abandoned books of Dudley, my cousin, was about Origami and paper was one of the few things I had access to when I was locked in my room during the summer."

"That explains why you decorated the Great Hall with paper flowers instead of more realistic looking ones", Severus muttered.

"Weren't they pretty, though?" Harry asked smiling.

"It wasn't made of paper!" Dobby squeaked.

The two wizards blinked at the elf. "Dobby..." Harry said slowly, "Are you telling me there's an object in Hogwarts with a shard of Tom's soul in it?"

"It's dark and none of us go anywhere near it!" Dobby wrung his hands nervously.

"There's a Horcrux in Hogwarts", Harry said numbly and then cursed and said: "Of course there's a Horcrux in Hogwarts! What better place to hide one than right under our noses!" He then turned to the house-elf: "Dobby, I need you to take me to it!"

O O O

Fetching the Horcrux the house-elves had found in the Room of Requirement was rather anti-climatic and getting rid of the soul shard was as simple as it had been with the one in the ring. Harry moved the shard to a paper animal (a forest green frog) and then set it aflame with a magical fire as destructive as Fiendfyre. The Diadem was placed on the mantle of the fireplace in the living room. Right next to the photo Harry had cut and framed from the Prophet (And what was the photo _of,_ you ask. It was of Harry smiling at Severus sweetly with a gagging black dog in the background). The Diadem was heavily warded by Harry so that stealing it wouldn't be quite as tempting for some people who would recognize it, like Albus for example.

As they were done with the Horcrux before lunchtime, Severus agreed to start teaching Harry how to Apparate, though he was reluctant. He still vividly remembered how their Occlumency lessons had gone. He wasn't eager for another similar experience. So imagine his surprise when after having Severus demonstrate Apparition to him once, Harry had it down immediately. And didn't even splinch himself on his first try. When Severus looked at Harry accusingly, convinced Harry had been taught this before, Harry shrugged and explained: "Learning different kinds of magic comes a lot easier when you can see exactly what you need your magic to do. It also helps that I have plenty of power to back up my intentions and to compensate for any lack of finesse." He then pouted, "I doubt seeing magic will help me with brewing though." More brightly he asked: "When are we starting those lessons, by the way?"

Severus was tempted to snap "Never!" but held his tongue and instead ignored the young man and stomped back through the gates to the school grounds (and inside the wards they had had to leave for the duration of Apparition lessons as you couldn't Apparate inside the wards).

"Tomorrow morning after breakfast then!" Harry called after him and then slowly followed the man while chuckling to himself.

The next morning found the two of them in Severus' private lab. They had both realized that having these lessons in the usual classroom might not be the best of ideas. They didn't need the vivid memories of previous disasters haunting them when they tried to work together. They didn't even need to communicate this decision to each other. Both had come to the same conclusion and knew the other agreed.

"We shall follow the usual curriculum for the sixth years", Severus decided and placed the text book on the table before the two of them, he opened it to the first potion recipe in it and idly waved his wand summoning a suitable cauldron and other equipment from the shelves brimming with his rather impressive collection of brewing supplies.

Half an hour later Severus broke the heavy silence growling: "Potter! _Dried_ pumpkin seeds, not the fresh ones!"

Harry read the instructions again, "Huh... Didn't notice that one." And he'd been extra careful to read with all his braincells active. He added the _dried_ seeds and then left the potion to simmer for the required quarter of an hour before the next ingredient. He turned to Severus who was hovering behind him, looking over his shoulder as he worked. "I think you should call me Harry."

"I prefer 'Potter', so no thank you", Severus sneered.

"Ah, but that's the problem. Everyone knows you can't stand anyone with the name 'Potter' and if you keep calling me that, everyone will think you still see me as my father and that there is no way the two of us are oh, so deeply in love", Harry dryly pointed out.

Severus really didn't want to admit that Harry had a point.

"And I might as well get used to calling you Severus", Harry sighed. He still thought of the man as 'Snape' and until 'Severus' came naturally, slipping would be way too likely. "Besides, I'm not 'Potter' anymore. 'Potter-Snape', remember?" Harry smirked.

"Don't remind me", Severus replied, groaning lightly in distaste.

O O O

It was the last evening before the start of the school year, before the castle would be once again filled with youngsters. Molly Weasley had rather insistently invited the two of them over to Grimmauld Place for dinner and Harry was in the process of getting ready. He had taken a bath and walked out to the bedroom wearing only a towel as he wasn't expecting company. Severus was there changing his robes and turned to look at Harry as he entered. Harry hadn't paid any attention to his state of undress until that moment when he saw the man eye him intently – and instinctively, by the looks of it. Harry calmly walked to his closet and dug out something to wear only to stop and turn to look at Severus as something occurred to him, "I never really thought about it before, but you're gay, right?" The man blinked at him and Harry continued: "You protested about my age but not my gender."

The man's slightly startled look turned into a sneer. "You needn't worry about me molesting you."

Harry laughed a little, "That's not what I meant. I know you wouldn't do something like that and I'm rather convinced I can defend myself from you with my new talent in wandless magic. I didn't actually mean much anything with that observation." He then turned thoughtful. "Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure about my own sexual orientation. Never really had the time to think about, with His Moldiness hunting me and all. Huh..." He dressed himself in simple black and purple robes, ignoring Severus who was staring at him incredulously. When he was properly dressed, he turned to his husband: "You ready to go?"

Severus let out an irritated huff and then stalked out of bedroom. They flooed to 12 Grimmauld Place and found the kitchen of the house already full of people. It looked like they were the last to arrive. They weren't late so it seemed everyone else had come early. To gossip, no doubt. The seat on Hermione's left was unoccupied so Harry took it, effectively forcing Severus to sit on _his_ left and to the right of the twins. There were still a few seats left on the other end of the table but they had to keep up appearances.

"Still alive, I see", Ron commented to his best friend.

"Ronald!" Hermione hissed in warning.

Harry chuckled. "And uninjured, yes. We have yet to resort to hexing each other."

"I'm still finding this hard to believe", Kingsley said from across the table, gesturing at Harry and Severus.

Harry shrugged, "Perhaps it's true what they say: There's a fine line between love and hate. And we always were exceedingly good at hating each other. Isn't that right, luv?" He smiled at his grouchy husband who huffed in response.

"The Beauty and the Beast", Mundungus (who sat on Kingsley's right) muttered.

Harry dug out his wand from his sleeve and with a toothy, threatening grin asked: "Are you sure you realize who you're insulting?"

"Oh please, 'beast' is hardly the worst insult Severus has heard", Kingsley chuckled.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "You think I'm taking offense on Severus' behalf?" Harry chuckled, "Does he look offended to you?" All eyes were drawn to the Potions Master. "He's practically overjoyed to be called that. He likes to think his reputation is still intact. And even if he was displeased, I would hardly jump to his defense. He's a grown man, he can defend his own honor. Now calling me the Beauty, that I find offensive. Do I look like a girl to you, hmm?"

"You wouldn't defend my honor?" Severus asked smirking.

"And rob you of the chance to rip your opposition to shreds yourself? I wouldn't be that cruel." Harry replied.

"You know me so well", Severus' smirk had a sadistic edge to it.

Molly obviously took this direction of the conversation to mean that there were some kind of public displays of affection between the newly wed couple fast approaching and decided to redirect: "Dinners ready!" She wasn't ready to see anything of the sort. Not between one of her babies (Harry) and a much older man. Witnessing the wedding ceremony and the kiss in the Great Hall had been bad enough (though luckily enough Severus' hair had blocked much of the traumatizing sight).

O O O

- - I thought I knew what you were capable of. That nothing you did would shock me. And then I hear of how you had gone far enough to rip your soul to shreds just to escape Death. And not just once, but several times. This, this must have been what robbed you of your sanity, though to attempt such insanity, you must have been unstable already. When I looked at the Dark Mark I thought it a magnificent piece of art, a work of genius. Only now do I realize that I've heard nothing of you creating anything as awe-inspiring since. You can't do it anymore, can you? By splitting your soul you've lost power and inspiration, that something that you had when you were naught but a boy. But you can't see this, can you, Tom? - -

O O O

Posted February 28th 2013


	7. Numbers

**Chapter 7: Numbers**

The night of September 1st Harry and Severus entered the Great Hall after most of the school was already present. The first years hadn't yet arrived but everyone else was there. It was an interesting effect their entrance had on the crowd. As the people began falling quiet, the silence spreading like a wave as they walked between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff house tables. When they reached the part of the Gryffindor table where Ron, Hermione and the other sixth year Gryffindors were seated, they could both hear Ron loudly telling his attentive audience: " – And you're forgetting that this means Harry can make Snape act like less of a bastard and – "

Harry cut him off with an amused, "I don't think there's anything anyone can do to make Severus behave." All heads swiveled to them. "Being a bastard is part of who he is."

"Is that any way to talk about your husband?" Severus dryly asked, face carefully blank.

Harry smiled at him warmly, laying his hand on the man's arm, "Wouldn't change you if I could, darling." He then added: "I'll see you later."

"Will you be coming straight back after the Feast or...?"

"I think I'll visit the Gryffindor tower", Harry answered.

Severus nodded and then made his way to the head table.

"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen", Harry greeted his friends as he sat down between Ron and Neville. They stared at him dumbfounded.

"He didn't take points", Neville eventually said, eyes slightly glazed in shock. "You called him a bastard and he didn't even take points."

"Technically he can't", Harry explained, "Not from me. He's my husband now, not my _teacher_."

"He didn't take points from me either", Ron was quick to point out.

Harry shrugged, "I distracted him. He forgot. Wouldn't count on being so lucky next time."

"Can't you like... Tell him not to treat us Gryffs so unfairly?" Lavender asked from across the table.

"Yeah, shouldn't he start treating us better now that he's married to one of us?" Parvati added.

Harry laughed, shaking his head, "There's no way he'd agree to give up his favorite sport: bullying lions. And we have an agreement of sorts. I don't intervene with his job, he doesn't intervene with my studies."

"What does that even mean?" Ron grumbled, clearly not liking the fact that he'd been wrong about how things would be between Gryffindors and Snape from now on.

Harry smirked, "It means I don't try to blackmail him into going easy on his students and he doesn't tattle on me should he witness me breaking school rules, such as curfew. He can't take points or assign detention to me but he could tell McGonagall and have her do it for him."

"Surely he wouldn't do that to his own – ?" Lavender frowned.

"Oh please!" Harry snorted. "You all know he's definitely vindictive enough to do something like that."

"Why did you marry him if you still think he's a git?" Parvati asked.

"Because he's _my_ git", Harry declared.

"That's not really much of an explanation", Neville softly protested.

Harry sighed, "He's not perfect, but then, who is? He has his faults but honestly, once I learned to deal with the excessive sarcasm and insults and we started really talking and not just trying to piss each other off, I found he's actually really quite fun to be around. He's intelligent, talented and while he seems like a bad person, he's really not. I feel comfortable around him and I know I don't need to watch what I say because he's seen a lot and if I somehow succeed in offending him, I know he'll gladly make his feelings known and insults me right back. Once he began seeing me as an adult and not just an irritating little brat under his care... Well, I doubt you'll want the details of _that_..." He smirked. Neville looked a little nauseous at the blatant hinting of something... more physical happening between Snape and _anyone_. There was a creepy little excited gleam in Lavender and Parvati's eyes. _Very creepy_, Harry thought.

"But still, to _marry_ him..?"

"Didn't you read the Prophet?" Harry asked, "The article about our wedding was actually rather accurate, much more so than Skeeter's usual drivel. Severus and I had to marry or we would have had to sneak around everyone's back. Seeing as how Dumbledore kind of found out... And to not have any relationship at all with him would have been torture. Can you imagine me drooling every time I laid eyes on the man and not be able to do anything? Torture, I say, _torture_."

At the mention of drooling both Lavender and Parvati turned to look at the man in question calmly sitting at this seat at the head table, ignoring all the speculating glances he was getting. The two of them stared, narrowed their eyes, tilted their heads, trying to figure out what exactly Harry found drool-worthy about the man.

Amused at the blatant scrutiny of his husband, Harry explain: "It's the robes, they hide his figure way too well. You should see him in more tight fitting clothes and you'd totally understand what I mean."

Lavender turned to look at him again, curiously, "I didn't even know you were gay. Didn't you, like, date Cho or something?"

Harry shrugged, "I suppose I'm bi. I didn't really put much thought into it until Severus. Too busy with dodging murder attempts and stuff."

"You know, Cho's giving you some pretty toxic looks right now", Parvati said, lowering her voice.

Lavender took a moment to run her eyes over the other house tables as well, "Malfoy doesn't look too pleased either", she giggled, "I wonder what's got his knickers in a twist."

"I heard some 'Claws teasing Cho about having turned Harry gay or something", Seamus shared, "And for her to lose to someone like Snape... She has reason to be embarrassed. Didn't hear anything juicy about Malfoy, though." Seamus was one of the best connected Gryffindors. He had friends in all the houses. Except for Slytherin, obviously.

Harry looked affronted, "She didn't _turn_ me gay."

"But she did lose to Snape, right?" Lavender grinned, "Serves that narcissistic bitch right."

"That's a little harsh", Hermione sniffed.

"I'll have to ask Severus if he knows what's got Malfoy so miffed." Harry mused.

"The other Slytherins don't look much better", Hermione pointed out, "Clearly they're not pleased about having their Head of House marry you of all people."

"Yeah, but – "

"Oh look! It's Remus!" Ron pointed at the werewolf making his way towards the head table.

"The Headmaster decided to follow my advice then", Harry mumbled as they all watched Remus sit down next to Severus.

The rest of the Welcoming Feast went as usual except with little less attention paid to Dumbledore and quite a bit more to the two Potter-Snapes. After the Feast, Harry spent about an hour avoiding answering questions in the Gryffindor Common room. For some reason his fellow lions seemed to believe they had every right to know everything there was to know about their Potions Professor and the relationship he had to Harry. When Harry made it back to their quarters, he flopped down on to the couch tiredly. Severus didn't even spare him a glance from the book the was reading on the nearby armchair.

Harry dug out the Guide and was happy find a new section had appeared. It was a collection of articles about the magic of numbers.

O O O

The first week of classes passed by quickly. After a couple days of gossiping and staring, the students finally decided to direct their curiosity elsewhere. It helped that watching Severus and Harry interact was mostly incredibly dull. They never spend much time in each others presence when in public and when they did, it was always nothing more than an exchange of few short words and perhaps a sweet smile on Harry's part.

Both Harry and Severus still received a bucketful of mail every day (of which only about one thirds were filtered out by Dobby or Winky before being delivered to them, in other words either cursed or _loud_), most of it hateful ramblings of nosy strangers, some brown nosing from people who realized getting into Harry's good books was a good idea and criticizing his love probably wasn't the smartest thing to do to accomplish that and a lot of requests for interviews from the reporters.

Draco Malfoy had been rather snippy. He hadn't missed a chance to shot insults and innuendos at Harry, the crude kind. Harry had been careful not to raise to the baiting and instead steadfastly ignored the blond ponce.

Harry did ask Severus if he had any clue about the possible reasons behind Malfoy's extreme anger (not that he truly expected Malfoy to have a proper reason) and was shocked to hear...

_Flashback:_

"Draco is my godson. I imagine he feels betrayed by my marrying his nemesis."

Harry gaped at his husband, who was calmly sipping his usual after dinner coffee in their kitchen. "Oh. My. God. Wait wait wait! You're like his non-related uncle. Does that make me his uncle as well? Merlin, I really would have preferred not knowing. Why did you have to tell me that!?" He whined.

"You asked." Severus dryly replied, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"You could've made something less traumatizing up!" Harry rubbed at his face furiously. "Oh, this is just so wrong! Like eww... It's like being related to the poncy little albino ferrets."

"Actually..." Severus decided to twist the knife a little, "All the pureblood families of Britain are more or less related. Seeing as how your father was most definitely of the one of the purer families, I would imagine you're much more closely related to the Malfoys than you'd think. In fact, since Draco's mother is Narcissa Malfoy nee Black and I know for a fact that James Potter's mother was Dorea Black..."

"Please tell me Narcissa and Dorea weren't like sisters or something", Harry pleased.

"I believe Narcissa is the granddaughter of one of Dorea's brothers, Pollux Black", Severus replied.

Harry whimpered, "I kind of knew that there'd be some kind of distant relation from the conversation I had with Sirius last year but I really didn't need to know the details. There's honestly something seriously wrong about all this inbreeding that's going on in the pureblood families. It's a miracle the magicals haven't gone extinct yet!"

"That doesn't mean we should interbreed with muggles either."

"Well no, probably not. At least not too much. But it would make a world of good to introduce some new blood in the way of muggleborns to the pureblood lines."

"Yes", Severus agreed, "And there does seem to be evidence towards half-bloods being generally more powerful than the purebloods of current times. You, me, the Headmaster..."

"Dumbledore's a half-blood?" Harry asked surprised.

"His mother, Kendra, was muggleborn."

"Huh... Explains his love of muggles and muggleborns, doesn't it..?" Harry mused.

_End of Flashback._

Harry's personal project for the weekend was to try and learn to active his magical sight quicker. It wasn't like he was especially slow at it, but the few seconds it took him to direct his magic to his eyes might prove fatal in combat situations. And so he began Saturday morning switching the sight on and off and on again at irregular intervals while working on his homework and stuff. It was when he was having a toilet break a little before lunch time that he suffered one of the nastiest shocks in his life.

"Jesus Christ!" He yelped while scrambling away from the bathroom mirror, accidentally swiping down the glass holding their toothbrushes and the dish with the bar of soap.

Severus came running, alarmed by both the cursing and the breaking glassware, and found Harry curled up on the floor, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily and eyes blown wide open. He knelt and tentatively touched the young man's arm, "Harry?"

The green eyes snapped up to meet his. "There's a piece of him in me", Harry hoarsely whispered and then suddenly shaking his shock shot up to his feet, "Oh eww! Eww! That's just _beyond_ disgusting! How _could_ he!?" He raged and then suddenly went impossibly still. "Ah, but he couldn't have, not on purpose. He doesn't even know it's there or he'd be trying to extract it _before_ killing me."

"Harry?" Severus was hesitant to draw his husband's attention to himself, but the confusion was killing him and so he decided to risk it, even though Harry was looking positively unhinged.

The green eyes snapped up to meet his again, this time more aware, "My scar is a Horcrux. Voldemort's Horcrux. One of six. No! Seven, since this one was doubtlessly accidental and he was aiming for a soul split in seven with six Horcruxes plus the main piece."

"There's a shard of the Dark Lord's soul in your scar", Severus repeated numbly.

"It all makes sense!" Harry yelled suddenly excited, "The abnormal connection to Voldemort and his snake, Nagini. Nagini is a Horcrux as well, obviously. And the pain in my scar when he's near? That's the piece of his soul wanting to unite with the main piece. And Dumbledore clearly knows or at least suspects and has done so since the beginning. Why else would he go so far to make sure my childhood sucked Merlin's hairy balls? He wanted me to feel grateful to the magical world for saving me from my horrible relatives, to make me more humble and with less self-worth so that when he eventually revealed the truth to me, that I had to die to kill Voldemort for good, I'd be more than willing to lay down my life. For the Goddamn Greater Good he loves so much! Oh, this is just brilliant. You know, I'm not even all that surprised now that I think about it. It was all there for me to see but I always looked the other way, buried my head in the sand. No more of that, no sir. I'll show him how – "

"I won't let you kill yourself to defeat the Dark Lord", Severus cut him off, his tone harsh. His furious scowl turned into a confused frown when Harry simply laughed and patted his cheek adoringly, "Oh darling, I have no intention of offing myself! Don't be silly. What I meant was obviously that _Dumbledore_ is convinced I have to die to get rid of the Horcrux in me. He's wrong, of course. I can remove the soul shard with little difficulty and with no life ending acts just fine, just like I did with the Ring and the Diadem." He then turned his eyes to the mirror and activated his magical sight. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Can you think of any reason why I should put off getting rid of it?"

"He has been blocking you from seeing anything useful through the connection, hasn't he?" Severus asked.

"Yes."

"If the only thing you're receiving through the scar is pain and vague hints about his emotional state then surely there's no reason for you to hold on to the Horcrux", Severus pointed out.

"And it makes me feel dirty, having a piece of _him_ in me. Ugh!" Harry covered the famous scar with his right hand while conjuring a bright pink paper cherry blossom with his left. Black smoke bled from the scar and pooled into a marble sized ball in his palm which he then pushed into the paper flower. When the smoke, the piece of soul, was all absorbed into the paper, the paper burst into black flames and was quickly reduced to nothing.

"Yes, much better", Harry hummed cheerfully and swept out of the bathroom.

O O O

"The Gryffindor team try-outs are today", Minerva McGonagall said to Severus during breakfast Saturday morning in the middle of September, smiling widely.

"I'm well aware", Severus muttered glowering darkly and took a long sip of coffee. "My husband's on the team."

"And not just _on_ the team. The captain of the team." Minerva added gleefully.

"Yes, thanks to you", Severus shot a glare at the woman.

"He's going to win me the Quidditch Cup, keep it from you another year. And the next one too. Your own husband. Isn't that ironic?" Minerva teased.

"We shall see", Severus huffed, though they both knew the chances of Harry losing the Cup were pitifully low.

"I think the House Cup is guaranteed to be mine as well now that you can't take points from Mr Potter." Minerva snickered. "I'm suddenly starting to see the upsides of this marriage of yours."

O O O

- - I suppose it's hypocritical of me to call you blind. I never noticed, never realized what the connection between us meant, not even when I learned of your worst sins, the ones against your very own soul. I didn't realize what it meant that I could see through your eyes and you mine. I didn't realize what it meant that I could feel what you feel. I didn't realize what it was that you had accidentally given me when you marked me. It was foolish of me and it was doubly as foolish of you. When you read this, it will be too late. You won't find that connection anymore. When you read this, you will be alone and unanchored and I'll be coming for you. - -

O O O

Posted March 1st 2013


	8. Records

**Chapter 8: Records**

The November passed by quickly, almost without Harry even noticing it. He was spent all his evenings submerged in the offerings of the Guide. There was a new section, a section with copies of the records of the Death Eater trials from the first war and the aftermath and dozens of pages of NEWT results of past students of Hogwarts, other kinds of records and any written articles about those people ever published. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why Minerva saw it necessary for him to know all that, but as everything he'd learned from the Guide so far had been of utmost importance, he made sure to go through the records with all his focus until he knew them well enough to almost recite them word for word. And then he began to try and look at them from other perspectives.

It was the last Friday of November that something occurred to him. "Severus, would you say there might be other Death Eaters who'd betray Voldemort should they be offered the chance to be rid of the Mark?"

Severus looked up from the Potions Journal he'd been reading. That's how they spent most of the evenings, sitting in the living room reading or working on their respective homework essays (Harry writing ones and Severus corrections those of his students). While neither would admit it, both rather enjoyed those kind of evenings. Severus would never admit to actually liking the quiet company Harry offered, with the occasional brief discussion. Harry would never admit to actually often times preferring Severus' company to that of his best friends. There was simply something so calming and relaxing about the man's company, something Ron and Hermione could never offer him, something he hadn't even realized he had longed for.

"None would dare to show any obvious signs of wanting to desert the Dark Order. And those who accidentally do, end up dead not much after."

"That doesn't really answer my question", Harry pointed out.

Severus stared at him in silence for a moment or two before answering: "Yes, I think there might others who have regretted taking the Mark."

Harry tapped the cover of the Guide in his lap in thought. "Perhaps we should offer the Death Eaters a trade. In exchange for information against Voldemort I'll remove their Marks and look the other way while they make a run for it."

"You would let murderers walk free?" Severus asked frowning.

"I get the impression some of them were more or less forced into this by their friends and family. That they're not true believers. Should they wish for a chance to redeem themselves, do they not deserve one? Also, it would severely weaken Voldemort, both by effectively ridding him of followers _and_ by giving us and the Order more information on his plans."

"The Dark Lord would inevitable try and send on of his most loyal to trick you, to either capture you or spy on you, possibly to feed you false information", The Potions Master pointed out the severe risk of the plan.

"So you'll always be with me as back up and we'll plan carefully, not take unnecessary risks. And if you doubt we can take their word for whatever information they offer, we can always demand they let you poke through their brains", Harry shrugged.

"I'm still not entirely convinced this a good idea", Severus protested.

"But it is what we should do, nevertheless", Harry turned to look at the Guide in his lap, "And I think I already know which of your old friends we should approach with this."

All the information had in that section of the Guide had to be records about Death Eaters. Not just the records of the trials, but all copies of people's NEWT records, newspaper articles and so on... All those were about the current Death Eaters. He thought through all that he'd read. While several of the lesser Death Eaters struck him as possible defectors, only one member of the Inner Circle seemed like a possible turncoat to him. Rabastan Lestrange. Rabastan had been just out of the Hogwarts when the first war ended and he was imprisoned along with his much older brother, his brother's wife, Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black and Barty Crouch Junior. There was actually no proof that Rabastan had cast any of the Cruciatus curses that drove the Longbottoms to insanity nor was there any proof of him committing any other crime except not stopping the others. But Rabastan hadn't tried to defend himself, hadn't tried to deny his part in all of it. That spoke of guilt, Harry figured. That spoke of fear as well. Not of fear of Azkaban, but of fear of his brother and possibly abandonment. Harry was willing to take his chance with the younger of the two Lestrange brothers.

"We'll start with some of the newer recruits", Harry said, "And Rabastan Lestrange." He could feel the Guide warm up slightly. Harry took it to mean that Minerva agreed with his decision.

O O O

One evening after dinner, as he was making his way back to the dungeons, Ron and Hermione confronted him in the hallway. "Harry!" Hermione ran up to him and stopped him by the sleeve. "Harry, we're worried about you!"

"Yeah, mate. You don't spend time with us anymore." Ron said.

"Even in class it's like you're not really present", she added.

"I spend most of the day with you guys", Harry protested, frowning. He didn't really understand where this was coming from.

"But you don't talk to us!" Hermione argued back. "You just sit there with your head in clouds or read that cursed book of yours!"

"You're telling me to put _less_ effort into stopping Voldemort?" Harry asked incredulous.

"It can't be your whole life!" Hermione's tone had a tinge of desperation in it. "What will you do when _he_ is dead if you have no life left to live? No friends, no family? Because that's what's happening."

"The people are already talking about how Snape's ruined you, made you all distant." Ron explained. "Have you even written Sirius? It's been over three months since you left Grimmauld Place."

"I'll see him at Christmas", Harry shrugged.

"You can't do this, Harry!" Hermione pleaded. "You don't have to do this alone. Let us help you!"

Harry took a snatched his sleeve away from her grasp and angrily began: "I don't need help! Not from an – !"

But he was cut off by a warm hand settling on his shoulder and a familiar deep voice, "Harry."

He twitched violently and turned to look at the hand on his shoulder. He briefly took in the elegant fingers and pale slightly stained skin before his eyes moved to those of the hand's owner. _Severus_... His eyes widened as he realized what he had been about to say. He knew he was paling and instinctively his hand rose to cover his mouth in a moment of horrified self-hatred. _I don't need help from an insufferable know-it-all like you! _He saw understanding in Severus eyes.

_Some words you can never take back_.

He glanced at his friends and then fled. He couldn't stand the hurt and worried looks of his friends. Not when he knew he had caused them.

Severus watched his young husband go and when he was out of sight and hearing distance, he turned to the two students. "You should let him be, let him do what he wants until after the war is over. He'll need you then."

"He needs us now!" Hermione protested anger flickering in her eyes.

Severus shook his head. "No, he doesn't. What he needs, is to keep you all safe. Everything else is secondary. If that means distancing himself from his friends then that's what he'll do. If that means he needs to spend every waking moment trying to find a way to defeat the Dark Lord, then that's what he'll do. You will cause more harm than good should you try and force him to do any different."

"Oh you're suddenly expert on all things Potter..!?" Ron snarled.

"Hold your tongue!" Severus hissed and then visibly reigned himself in, took a deep calming breath and more calmly said: "I am his husband, no matter the circumstances behind the union. I spend more time in his company than either of you and he is actually sharing his plans with me. I may not have the years of experience as his friend but I dare say I have a better grasp of the character of the man he has grown up to be."

"He's only sixteen", Hermione softly argued.

"He grew up more that night in the Department of Mysteries than the rest of you combined. Perhaps trying to treat him as more of an adult than a moody teen would serve you well", With that Severus turned on his heel, the hem of his robe flaring, and strode after Harry.

Hermione and Ron stood in stunned silence. Not quite believing they had just witnessed Severus more or less paying Harry a compliment. Ron broke the silence: "That went well."

Severus found Harry in the kitchen, making a pot of tea. Severus took out cups for both of them and set them on the table. When the tea was ready, Harry poured for both of them and they sat down. Harry stared at his tea for a long moment before muttering, "I think I need something stronger."

Severus waved his wand and a bottle of Ogden's Finest sailed through the air and to his waiting hand. He poured some to both his tea and Harry's. He was pleased to find a smile tugging at Harry's lips as the young man took a sip. After drinking half of his much improved tea, Harry finally spoke, "What did you say to them?"

"To let you fight your war before trying to pressure you into filling your friendly duties, basically."

Harry sighed. It was a world weary sound. Not something anyone liked to hear from a man his age. "Thank you, Severus. For stopping me."

"You're welcome", Severus nodded. The "_I wish someone had been there to stop me back then. I couldn't let you do the same mistake I did."_ went without saying. He hoped Lily was watching.

They sat in silence until both their cups were empty. "Do you think they'll forgive me when all this is over?" Harry asked quietly.

"There's very little _to_ forgive", Severus said shaking his head, "They will understand why you need things to be the way they are and when the Dark Lord is gone for good, you'll be just fine."

"I almost – ", Harry couldn't even say it. He couldn't believe how he'd almost hurt her. Because he knew better than most how words can hurt worse than physical blows. It had always been the ugly words that hurt the most at Dursleys. Not the beatings he got from Dudley or the occasional smack from his Aunt and Uncle. A sad chuckle full of shame slipped from his lips, "Merlin! I thought I had my temper finally under control but it's like I haven't improved at all!"

"It's the curse of people like you and I", Severus chuckled and Harry's eyes snapped up to meet his black ones, "We always run either hot or cold. It's not something one can grow out of and even the best of controls some times slips."

"We are a lot alike", Harry admitted softly and then hurriedly rose and practically fled the kitchen with a hasty "I need a bath". It seemed he was doing a lot of that that evening, fleeing from things he couldn't face quite yet.

O O O

In the morning Severus found Harry in the living room, with a steaming cup of tea on the table in front of him and dozens and dozens of paper flowers of all colors surrounding him. They were all over the couch he was sitting on and several had fallen to the floor. From the way Harry was in the process of folding one, Severus deduced they were all folded by hand instead conjured. He bent to pick up one from the floor. It was a yellow lily. He could see several identical ones among the piles of paper flowers. His eyes were drawn to the parchment and quill on the table. Harry finally noticed him and saw him looking at the writing utensils. "I've been trying to write a letter to Sirius", He admitted sheepishly.

"A letter to the mutt is causing you this amount of distress?" Severus asked gesturing at the origami. He was fairly confident in his assessment that folding was something he did when stressed.

"I don't know what to say to him, to be honest", Harry admitted, "But Ron and Hermione were right to criticize me about not having written him in all these months." He turned pleading eyes to his husband, "Advice, please?"

Severus sighed and after moving a pile of origami to table, sunk down on the couch next to Harry. "I'm sure he'll be quite happy with just about anything you tell him. Remember to avoid complicated words and long sentences and he'll even understand what ever it is you end up writing."

Harry smacked his arm lightly in reprimand, "He's not dumb." He couldn't help but chuckle just a little.

"Could've fooled me", Severus sneered, though there was an obvious tinge of humor to his tone. More seriously he said: "Tell him about what you've been learning, Quidditch, plans for Christmas, – "

"What _are_ our plans for Christmas?" Harry asked.

"I presumed you would insist on spending at least part of the holidays at Grimmauld Place."

"I would like to, yes", Harry nodded slowly.

"But you wouldn't force it on me", Severus read between the lines.

"It's Christmas", Harry shrugged, "You should spend Christmas with people you want to spend it with, somewhere you feel comfortable."

"I have no family, no friends. There's little reason to rob you of the chance to spend the Christmas with people you hold dear."

"So you'll just suck it up?" Harry frowned.

"Christmas holds very little meaning to me. I'm quite fine with letting you enjoy yours even if it means I have to spend a few days in the company of fools and mutts. If only to keep our facade of a relationship as believable as possible." Severus assured. "Besides, spending some time away from Hogwarts should provide us with a suitable chance to slip away to meet the Death Eaters we're looking to make deals with."

"So we'll go to Grimmauld after the term let's out and stay until some time after Christmas, until we've met with all the potential turncoats?" Harry asked and chuckled at the pained grimace Severus wore as he nodded his assent, "I'll try to keep Sirius away from you."

"My hero", Severus dryly joked.

Harry smiled and then determinedly grabbed his quill and began writing. He didn't pay any attention to Severus anymore as the man got up and on his way to the kitchen placed one of the paper lilies on the mantle next to the framed photo from their wedding reception.

O O O

It was a Saturday afternoon about a week before the holidays when Severus upon emerging from his private lab found his husband and the Headmaster sitting at the kitchen table, sipping tea while staring at each other in silence. "Headmaster?"

The blue eyes turned to him and crinkled as the old man smiled, "Severus! We've been waiting for you to join us. Harry wouldn't let me disturb you."

"I was in the middle of brewing a very sensitive potion", Severus explained. The slightest of errors in timing would have made all his hard work go to waste and he had been working on that particular potion all day. He was quite grateful Harry had known to stop the Headmaster from barging in. "What can we do for you?" He asked as he took his seat. He gave a nod of thanks to Harry as a cup of tea was placed in front of him before turning all his attention back to their guest.

"He's here to demand back the Ring and to ask us whether we have made any progress on the Horcrux front since he's had none", Harry answered for him. Albus looked at the young wizard in shock. Clearly the man hadn't told Harry that but Harry had still being perfectly accurate. "No, you can't have the Ring back as I've yet to find any reason to believe it belongs to you", Harry answered the question he had so cleverly guessed Albus wanted to ask. "Yes, we've made some progress, as you realized when you saw the Diadem on the mantle."

"So it was indeed Rowena's Diadem", The Headmaster sighed but before he had the chance to continue, Harry cut him off.

"No, you can't have it. We'll hold on to it for now."

"It belongs to the school – ", The old man began to protest.

"Actually, since the school has never had any right of ownership over it and all known descendants of Rowena Ravenclaw are dead, the Diadem belonged to the one who found it", Severus corrected. "It is legally Harry's and as his husband, mine."

"Surely – "

"Surely you know better than to demand anything of us", Severus cut him off again. "Neither of us are dependent on you any longer. Harry freed me of my Mark and should the Ministry suddenly find something to falsely accuse me off, Harry's influence will be just as effective as yours would be in keeping me out of Azkaban and from the clutches of the Dementors. Harry doesn't need you to guide or protect him anymore, not that you ever did a very good job of it. That book of his has done a fantastic job of providing him guidance so far and protection? We'll protect ourselves just fine."

"Has the facade become reality then?" Albus asked weakly, alarmed by the unity he saw in the two men he had consider his boys for a long while. This was unexpected. "I never could have imagined you'd be capable of forming a relationship like this." His eyes were drawn to the mantle in the living room, which he could see through the door way from where he was sitting. There was the Diadem, it had drawn all his attention the first time he saw the mantle that afternoon. But now that he took a better look, he realized there was a framed photo from the wedding and a paper lily in the center of the mantle, like they were more important than the Diadem was.

"Was there something else you wanted, Headmaster?" Harry asked blankly.

Albus sighed in defeat as he took in both their closed off expressions. He knew a dead end when he saw one. He rose and walked to the door of the quarters. He stopped dead when Harry spoke again: "I didn't need to die to get rid of it, just so you know." His eyes widened in surprise but he didn't turn to look at Harry. He couldn't move at all. Until Harry said: "Good day, Headmaster", and he suddenly found himself in the hallway and the door closing behind him.

O O O

The term finally ended and it was time for the students to board the Hogwarts Express. After much discussion, Harry and Severus had agreed to both take the train as well. Harry had refused to cause his fellow students fear by not taking the train and Severus wanted them both to take a safer mode of transportation, namely Portkey or Apparition. They settled on the compromise that both would take the train, though Severus was none too pleased about it. Stuck in a train full of hormonal teenagers and children for several hours? Not something he would ever willingly submit himself to. But he couldn't let Harry take the train by himself either. Neither of them had heard of the Dark Lord since Harry removed Severus Mark and his own scar. All the information they had to go by were the Death Eater attacks reported and those were surprisingly few. The Dark Lord was clearly laying low and that was worrying. Especially since they had no idea why. They had guesses, theories. But no information to back them up. They were going to fix that in a few days. But it didn't help the current situation which had the two of them sitting in an otherwise unoccupied compartment trying to shut out the joyous shrieks of the students on the other side of the door as they didn't dare to magic themselves silence in case something untoward happened. They would need to be vigilant. And that unfortunately meant suffering through the noise.

"Why did I let you talk me into this?" Severus grumbled, flipping the pages of a Potions Journal irritably.

"Taking the train, going to Grimmauld Place for the holidays or marrying me?" Harry asked teasingly without moving his eyes from the Defense Against the Dark Arts text he was reading.

Severus huffed.

The compartment door slammed open. "Harry! We didn't know you were coming to HQ for holidays!" Hermione squealed, Ron following not far behind her. Her eyes caught Severus, "Oh! Professor, you're coming too?"

"Of course", Severus sighed and then began to read one of the articles of his Journal seemingly ignoring the others present.

"How did you get him to agree to come to HQ?" Ron asked flopping down on the seat next to Harry, Hermione sitting down next to him.

"Blackmail, threats, bribes." Harry replied eyes glued to the text he was reading.

Severus snorted.

"Honestly, Harry..." Hermione whined.

"I asked", Harry said dryly. "We discussed the matter and agreed on it. It's how adults handle stuff like this."

Hermione looked affronted. Ron blinked dumbly.

"How long will you be staying?" She asked.

"Until some time after Christmas", Harry shrugged.

Silence fell.

"Chess?" Ron asked.

The rest of the train ride was spent mostly in silence. Harry played a couple of games of chess with Ron, and naturally lost. Hermione watched them play and read for a while. Severus did his utmost best to ignore all three of them. Remus was waiting for them at the station with a portkey and they were quickly whisked away. Immediately upon arrival at Grimmauld Place, Harry was tackled by Sirius, "Harry!"

"Sirius", Harry replied, a fond smile making its way to his lips.

"Harry!" Sirius repeated, detaching himself, "Oh, you've grown! And you kept the longer hair!"

"Observant", Severus quietly mocked.

Sirius eyes swiveled to meet Severus'. "Snivel – ", he began to growl but was cut off by Harry clearing his throat suggestively. "Snape", he said darkly instead.

"It's Po – ", Severus began to mockingly correct but was stopped by a rather familiar hand covering his mouth.

"Shush, you", Harry ordered dryly before removing his hand.

Severus huffed and then left the front hall with both their trunks following him like little ducklings as he made his way up the stairs and to the room he usually occupied while staying at Grimmauld Place. He figured Harry would be staying there with him from now on. Ah well, they were used to it and there was a double bed...

"You've got him well trained, eh?" Sirius snickered to his godson.

Harry stared at him blankly and as he had predicted, the expression, or rather lack of expression unnerved Sirius quite a bit. Then he said: "Really, Sirius? That's my husband you're talking about."

"But... But..." Sirius stammered, "But it's not real!"

Harry hissed angrily. Luckily there were none but those in the know present, though he could hear Molly in the kitchen. "For the next five years it _is_ real and you should never say any different when someone might hear! We've successfully played our roles this long and I won't have you screw it up!"

"I'm sorry!" Sirius gestured with his hands placatingly, "I'll be more careful, okay?"

Harry's expression softened, "Sirius, I'm doing this for you. And you would do well to remember that Severus didn't have to agree to this either and thus is partly responsible for your continued existence. Would it really be too much to ask for you to try and be at least civil with him?"

"But he's – "

"My _husband_", Harry growled and then took a fortifying breath. "You want me to spend as much time here as possible, right?" Sirius nodded. "That means Severus will be here as well. The less pleasant you make his stay here be, the less agreeable he will be to coming here which means I can't come to stay here for any longer periods of time. We're like a package deal. You can't have just one or the other. Be civil, please, Sirius."

With that he made his way upstairs and to the guestroom he knew Severus had previously occupied. As he'd expected, Severus was indeed in the room and already unpacking their clothes to the closet. Harry looked curiously around the room. He'd never actually seen the inside of it. It was rather gloomy, with the dark black and green color scheme and heavy curtains. There was a grand double bed, two armchairs and a coffee table by the window, one wall wide closet and a door on the opposite wall, presumably leading to a private bathroom. He sat on the edge of the bed and turned to look at Severus. "I told him to try and be civil with you."

"That might require a miracle", Severus idly commented.

"But you'll try, right?" Harry asked.

"I'll try not to bait the mutt too much", The man agreed.

"That's all I ask", Harry smiled and even though Severus' back was turned, he knew the man could hear the smile in his tone. He walked to the door, "I'll go greet Mrs Weasley. She'll be offended if I don't."

As the door closed behind Harry, Severus sighed. _Why did I agree to this again?_

O O O

- - After reading about the pasts of your Death Eaters, noticing how little I actually knew about what made them make the decision they did, I came to realize that I know so very little of what made you who you are. You too had your reasons, at least in the beginning. You weren't always insane and broken. Something made you desire power and domination over others. Something made you believe that murder was alright. Something. _Something_. You too were human once, Tom. And if you still were, I would offer you a chance to redeem yourself, to ask for forgiveness. But you're not human anymore. And so there's only one way this can end. - -

O O O

Posted March 1st 2013


	9. Blank Pages

**Chapter 9: Blank Pages**

- - I really ought to thank you, and I do. You - unintentional as it was on your part - brought me and Severus together. Such a crazy match, I never would have even considered it, not even jokingly. I thank you, Tom. You made this happen and I'm happy. I'm content, for the first time in my life. I feel safe and cared for and there's purpose to my life, something more than ridding the world of you. So I thank you. I do. I'll be there soon to thank you in person.

Yours sincerely,

Harry

O O O

They had found an old abandoned factory at the edge of London where they decided to have their meetings with the potential defecting Death Eaters. They had discussed sending them letters, or possibly trick portkeys but the method of _invitation_ they settled on was by house-elf. It really was quite convenient how the usefulness of house-elves was so often underestimated. It really was no trouble at all for Dobby to follow the targets and nap them when they were alone. He would then bring them, one at a time to the factory, knock them unconscious and then fetch Harry and Severus. The hardest part of the whole plan was actually for Harry and Severus to slip away unnoticed when they knew they wouldn't be missed for a couple of hours. That usually meant the dark hours of early morning when everyone else was deep asleep.

They had already met with three of the potential defectors and all three had agreed to a round of legilimizing in return of getting rid of the Mark. They were of the lesser Death Eaters and so had very little information about the plans of their Lord or the Inner Circle members. Practically all that Severus got out of them was the general atmosphere in the Death Eater ranks since he'd left. There was unrest and rumors about the Dark Lord being even more unstable than before.

They hit the jackpot with Rabastan Lestrange.

As they Apparated to the abandoned factory, they found Rabastan tied to a rickety chair and unconscious like their three previous targets. He was stripped of his wand and Dobby hadn't found any portkeys on him so it was safe to say the man wasn't going anywhere. With a soft poke of magic Harry woke Rabastan. The man returned to consciousness with a gasp and immediately proceeded to take in his surroundings, eyes settling on the two men before him. "Severus", he blinked, "Potter", another blink, "This is unexpected."

"No doubt", Harry chuckled, "Let's get down to business, shall we?"

"Business?" Rabastan parroted.

"You let Severus take a little peak inside your mind and I'll remove your Dark Mark", Harry said gesturing towards Rabastan's forearm.

"Wha – ?" The man gaped.

"Surely you realize the only reason I'm still alive is that I no longer have the Mark?" Severus asked.

"We suspected yes", Rabastan admitted, "But the Dark Lord said no one could possibly remove it! He said you had to be under the protection of some special protecting wards or the like."

Severus pushed up his sleeve to reveal his unmarked arm. "Harry learned how to remove them. We wouldn't have dared to marry otherwise." Not strictly true, but... yeah...

"I'm... I'm loyal to the – ", Rabastan began weakly.

"No, you're not", Harry cut him off. "You joined the Dark Order under duress, because your brother and father more or less forced you to. We're offering this chance to you because we are quite convinced you'll take it."

"You'll remove the Mark and what? Turn me over to the Aurors?"

"You'll walk away and we turn a blind eye. This never happened, as far as we're concerned. Start over somewhere else, make a new identity for yourself." Harry replied.

"And if I refuse?" Rabastan asked.

"I'll legilimize you anyway and then we'll send you back with a nice a little obliviate", Severus smirked.

Rabastan stared at them, face blank, but his eyes showed his head was positively spinning with possibilities. "Alright", he finally agreed.

"Brilliant", Harry smiled victoriously and Severus cast '_Legilimens_'.

He didn't emerge from Rabastan's memories until half an hour later. One memory in particular had caught his attention. The memory in itself was very dull, simply of Rabastan visiting the Lestrange vault in Gringotts a while back. It was the contents of the vault that caught his eye. Severus turned to Harry, "There's a rather special object in the Lestrange vaults. The Hufflepuff's Cup."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise and his lips widened in a pleased smile. "Oh, Tom, how horribly obvious you're being", he chuckled. Rowena's Diadem and Helga's Cup. Giving the Diary to Lucius for safe-keeping and the Cup to one of the Lestranges, Bellatrix, Harry figured, since she was one of his favorites. He then asked Rabastan: "Would you be horribly opposed to doing us a tiny little favor? You may refuse, I'll remove the Mark as per our deal in any case."

"You want me to bring you this... Cup from our vault?" The man tied to the chair asked, clearly not aware of the significance of the Cup and probably not even aware of it residing among the Lestrange family's riches.

"Yes", Harry nodded, "You would like to fetch some funds for your _trip_ anyway, wouldn't you? Bring us the Cup and should you somehow get caught by the Aurors, I'll promise to witness on your behalf, to ask for leniency at the very least." Rabastan eyed him, trying to judge his sincerity and was apparently satisfied with what he found as he nodded his assent. The robes holding him down fell limply to the floor and he rose to his feet. "It's probably better if I remove the Mark after your trip to Gringotts. You never know who you run into or when your Lord decides to summon you."

Rabastan nodded and then Apparated away. The trip to Gringotts went without a hitch and in about an hour he was back at the abandoned factory with a bottomless pouch full of cash and valuables and one very special Cup. There was something wrong about the Cup so he was actually very relieved to hand it to Harry, who swiftly stuffed it into one of his enlarged pockets before grabbing Rabastan's arm, "As I promised", he said. Rabastan's arm tingled and then it was over. He looked at Harry in question and when the younger wizard only smiled, he hastily pushed up his sleeve. He couldn't help the disbelief he felt when he took in the unmarked skin. A part of him hadn't believed it possible, he realized.

"Thank you", he said.

Harry nodded with a small smile, "Go now. I hope we'll never meet again, Rabastan Lestrange."

"Thank you", Rabastan repeated and Apparated away a free man.

O O O

The next morning, about three hours after they had finally gone to bed, they woke up to Dobby jumping up and down on their bed and practically shrieking: "Kreacher is a bad elf, stealing from his Master, Kreacher is!" The two wizards groaned and Harry tried to bury his head under a pillow. "Dobby found another thingie like the paper birdie in Kreacher's nest!"

"Kreacher took the Cup?" Harry mumbled, still half asleep.

Severus' eyes snapped open, "Wait, didn't you already remove the Horcrux from it?" Both wizards shot up and turned to look at Dobby who had finally stopped bouncing. He was holding a locket. "Slytherin's Locket", Severus gasped in awe and reached up to take it.

Harry beat him to it, "Probably better if I remove the taint before you have contact with it. Who knows what Voldemort has cast on it." The whole process from conjuring a paper animal (this time an orange butterfly) to burning it with the soul shard tied to it took him less than half a minute. He was becoming quite the expert in Horcrux extraction and disposal. He then handed the much safer locket to Severus, let himself fall back on the bed, pulled up the covers and rolled to his side, promptly falling asleep again.

Severus stared at the Locket in wonder, glanced at his now sleeping husband before turning to the uncharacteristically silent house-elf, "Good job, Dobby", he praised. With an overjoyed giggle the elf popped away. Severus went back to admiring the Locket.

O O O

It was almost midday when Harry next woke. Severus was still asleep. The other residents of Grimmauld Place had quickly learned to let the two of them sleep as long as they desired. Both Molly and Sirius had made the mistake of trying to wake them once and both had found themselves nastily hexed and with little success on the whole waking up front. It turned out both Harry and Severus had developed a habit to sleep-hex all intruders.

Harry found the Locket on the bedside table on Severus' side and took a good long look at the enchantments on it with his magical sight. From what he could see, there were several protective charms, mostly to protect the wearer against poisons and other harmful potions. The Locket could probably nullify the effects of all snake venom. That reminded him of the last Horcrux, Nagini. He was fairly certain the enormous snake was one, the last one. They would have to hunt down the snake before Voldemort could properly die. Seeing as how Voldemort liked to keep Nagini close, it meant one of them would need to keep Voldemort occupied while the other slayed the pet snake. He could never let Severus face Voldemort, not alone. He gently slipped the Locket around Severus neck, careful not to wake him and cast a subtle charm to prevent the Locket from being taken off. And then he decided he needed a bath.

When he returned to the bedroom, wet and wearing nothing but a towel, Severus was awake and turned to glare at him. "What did you do to it?" He was tugging at the Locket he was wearing.

Harry walked to the closet and pulled out a pair of boxers, black trousers and a white button-down shirt, "It's yours now. You'll need it when you kill Nagini."

"You're not going to try and extract the Horcrux from her?" Severus frowned.

"I doubt we'll have the time and honestly, from what I've seen the snake is entirely too attached to Voldemort. She'd rather die, trust me", Harry sighed. "Since catching her away from Voldemort isn't all that likely to happen, you'll have to deal with her while I keep _him_ occupied."

"What does the Locket have to do with it?"

"It's a piece of art, the charm work is exquisite. I wish you could see it", Harry smiled, "It'll protect you from harmful substances. Should Nagini bite you, the Locket might just keep you alive long enough for help to arrive."

Severus rose and walked to now properly clothed Harry, "I don't want to let you face _him_ alone."

Harry touched his cheek gently, eyes shining with adoration and a soft smile adoring his lips, "Then you'll just have to deal with Nagini real quick and join me in defeating him."

That adoration he saw in Harry's eyes, it hurt. He hurriedly stepped back. He didn't deserve it. He wanted it _so much_. To have someone like him, love him even. But he didn't deserve it, especially not from Harry. Not when he was the reason his parents were dead. The hurt that replaced the adoration at his distancing himself was apparent and he couldn't stand that look so he turned away. But he could still feel it, the hurt he caused with that little rejection. He ran a shaking hand through his sleep tangled hair and with a fortifying breath turned back to face Harry and the moment of truth that he had for a long while known was coming. "I was the one who told the Dark Lord the Prophecy."

"What?" Harry asked frowning in confusion. "What are you – ?"

"I was there when Trelawney spoke the Prophecy to the Headmaster, I heard the first part and like the loyal dog of a Death Eater I was, I ran to the Dark Lord with it." His voice cracked. "I'm the reason behind the death of your parents. I'm the reason Lily and James are dead, Harry. I'm the reason you've had a shitty childhood. I'm the reason you've had to fend of more murder attempts during your school years than the average wild rabbit. I was young and foolish and I've regretted it ever since but some things can't be taken back! For some things there is no forgiveness. I was never going to tell you. I was going to hate you and have you loath me even more, as I deserve, and watch over you and protect you with my life like Lily would have wanted me to."

"You were the one who told _him_ the Prophecy", Harry numbly said, his eyes staring into space. Suddenly his eyes snapped to Severus and he noticed the broken expression the man was wearing. That, right there, was remorse if he'd ever seen any. The very definition of remorse. And Severus _had_ protected him even when they couldn't yet stand the sight of each other. Had he heard this confession before he had gotten to know the man, he wouldn't have been able to... But he did know him and he had occasionally wondered what was it that brought that tortured expression to his face, the one he tried so hard to hide. This remorse, there really was no way he could not forgive Severus. The blame didn't even lay solely at his feet. Dumbledore, Peter, James and Lily, Sirius, Voldemort... All had played a part in the tragedy, more or less. And so... "I forgive you", the words were spoken no louder than a whisper.

Severus shook his head in denial.

In two steps Harry was right in front of him, "I forgive you", he said with more confidence. "It was a long time ago. You were young. You were foolish. And you've tried to redeem yourself ever since. I forgive you and I'm sure my mother would have as well."

"You... You can't just – ", Severus protested weakly, he felt dizzy.

"Forgive you? I can. I do", Harry took one more step to close the gap between them and slipped his arms around the man. He noticed Severus was shaking. "You've been good to me for the last few months. You've showed me there's a good man under that mask of cruelty. I've grown quite fond of you, did you know?" He released Severus slowly and noticed there were what looked like unshed tears in his eyes. "Why don't you take a bath, hmm? Mrs Weasley will worry if we fail to show up for lunch." He watched Severus hurriedly retreat to the privacy of the bathroom. He needed to think. He left the room and headed to the attic. It was one of the few places in the house with some peace and quiet.

O O O

For their plan to slay Voldemort to work, they needed to choose the time very carefully. If there were many Death Eaters in attendance, everything would be ruined. Severus had argued that surely the Order could handle a few Death Eaters but Harry stubbornly refused to involve them. Perhaps it was madness, but Harry wasn't going to risk their lives, not again. They did eventually find the most ideal time. They would sneak in to Voldemort's residence, the Riddle Mansion, during Malfoy's annual Christmas Ball. The Malfoy's hadn't publicly announced they were holding one, but Severus was still convinced one was going to take place. It was tradition and Malfoy's were sticklers for traditions, if nothing else. The lack of announcement simply meant the attendees would most likely all be either Death Eaters or at least unmarked supporters of the Dark Lord. Of course, this also meant that Voldemort himself would attend as well but if there was one thing Harry had learned of dear old Tom, was that the wizard simply loved attention and to always present himself in a way that emphasized his superiority. In other words, Voldemort would be the last one to arrive, to make an entrance. They had a slim window in which all Death Eaters would already be at Malfoy Mannor but Voldemort not quite yet there.

The downside of the timing was that it happened to be the evening of Christmas eve. Which meant their absence at the dinner table at Grimmauld Place would be noticed very quickly. That is why Harry had assigned both Dobby and Winky to run interference. They had been told to lie, lie and lie some more to prolong the time before they were realized missing and after that they had the permission to resort to the more magical means to keep the Order members from trying to run after the two of them.

"It's really quite creepy how _normal_ it looks", Harry commented as they appeared outside the Riddle Mansion, "Except for the wards, that is. Those are quite extraordinary." He quickly wove holes into the wards to allow the two of them passage without alerting the warder of their presence. The front door was unlocked. In the front hall they took a moment to observe. Harry stretched his magical sight to its limit, "From what I can see, there are only three magical presences in the house. Two in a room upstairs, one that way", he pointed at the door on his right, "I'm fairly certain the two upstairs are Voldemort and Nagini. I don't know who the third one is."

"I'll take care of it", Severus said and without further ado left to hunt down the third presence. He returned shortly with an unconscious rat with one silver paw that he was hanging by the tail.

Harry grabbed the rat eagerly, a slightly sadistic smile making its way to his face, "The perfect Christmas present. Oh, you know me so well!" He stuffed the rat into one of his cloak pockets and then more seriously asked: "Ready?" Severus nodded and up the stairs they went. As they passed by, the wallpaper was silently peeled from the walls and cut into small, about 7 by 7 inch squares and folded into birds and butterflies that then fluttered after the two wizards. Severus eyed the animated origami amused. Perhaps Harry wasn't quite as unaffected as he seemed. There were hundreds of them by the time they reached their destination. With magic, Harry pushed the door before them open and the cloud of his creations flew past them to the room. Through the loud fluttering of paper wings he could hear Voldemort hissing to Nagini: _/Stay behind me./_

He guided the origami to part so that they were no longer obstructing the view between the two opposing parties. "Hello Tom", He cordially greeted.

"Potter", Voldemort hissed, "I see you brought the traitor with you. A gift for me, perhaps?"

Harry chuckled, "Sorry, he's all mine." He then asked: "You did get my letter, didn't you?" He could practically feel the questioning look Severus was no doubt shooting at him. He hadn't told Severus about the letter he had had Dobby deliver right before they left for the Riddle Manor.

"Nauseating sentimental drivel", Voldemort snorted, "I had hoped you were joking."

"Yes, I didn't think you'd understand. But it all just had to be said", Harry shook his head sadly and then asked: "Shall we do this?" And then without waiting for a reply, he had lashed out his hand and a wave of magic slammed into Voldemort from the side slamming him against the wall to his right, effectively putting almost four feet between him and his last remaining Horcrux.

Knowing an opening when presented with one, Severus quickly cast Fiendfyre on the furiously hissing Nagini and was pleasantly surprised to see her burn.

"No!" Voldemort yelled breaking free from Harry's magic's hold but it was too late for his snake, he could see it and so he turned his attention to Harry and Severus. He made a powerful visage with his blood read eyes burning with fury, but Harry could see just the tiniest hint of fear in them. Fear of death, now that there was nothing left to keep him anchored to world of the living. The eyes were drawn to the Slytherin's Locket hanging around Severus' neck and glinting in the fire light. "You gave my Locket to your whore?" Voldemort asked Harry with much venom. "How dare you cheapen it like that!?"

"You would have preferred I wear it myself?" Harry asked bemused.

"He's not worthy!" Voldemort raged. "None but you and I should lay a finger on it, much less wear it!"

"So you do consider me your equal then", Harry smiled sadly.

"Of course not!" Voldemort hissed and then grudgingly admitted: "But you have come the closest. None but you and I can speak the noble language of parseltongue and you have been the first to find a way to remove my Mark. You're the only one with real _potential_."

"I'm going to kill you, Tom", Harry said softly, "You brought this upon yourself, with your choices, with your actions. You could have been great. You could have ruled the Wizarding Britain as the new Dumbledore. If only you'd chosen the less bloody road. But what is, is." He closed his eyes and then slowly opened them and lifted his arm. He rolled his hand and a golden piece of string appeared at his fingertips and shot through the air, wrapping around Voldemort's throat tightly enough to make the wizard choke and try to claw at it. "I'm sorry it has to be this way", Harry apologized and actually felt sorry, "And thank you." And then he flicked his wrist and the string neatly beheaded one of the most feared Dark Lords in history.

He turned to look at Severus who was standing right next to him, quietly. "Thank you for letting me do it", Harry said.

"You didn't seem to need my help", Severus pointed out.

"Yeah", Harry sighed, "I think he's been ruling with fear for a while now. I imagine he lost the majority of his magic a long while ago." He walked to the remains of Voldemort. "Looks like he left behind a corpse after all. We should probably drop it at the Department of Law Enforcement. I imagine they'll appreciate a chance to have a chat with Peter as well."

"What's this about a letter to the Dark Lord?" Severus asked, tone demanding and eyebrow twitching in irritation.

"Letter?" Harry gave a nervous little laugh, "That's a funny thing actually, see... Uhh..."

"Just stick with the truth", Severus advised when it looked like Harry was trying to come up with a convincing lie.

"Okay, so..." Harry shuffled his feet nervously, "I may have written a letter to _him_ and have Dobby deliver it to him a few moments before we arrived."

"And why would you do something like that?" Severus asked.

"It was therapeutic?" Harry replied, though it sounded more like a question. "Honestly, I didn't think he'd just quietly sit and listen while I talk about my feelings and I really needed to get it off my chest. I wanted this to be over with his death and letting all those rather deep and profound thoughts just muddle up my head indefinitely, I didn't want to let it happen. So I decided to write him a letter."

Severus sighed, "Writing I understand, but did you really need to have him read it?"

"Yes?" Harry replied hesitantly and then exasperatedly said: "Oh come on, Severus! There was no harm, was there? I mean he's dead, deader than dead, and we're both fine!"

"You should have – ", Severus began but stopped when the clear sound of the front door slamming open could be heard.

"Oh look! The cavalry's here!" Harry giggled (it was a very manly giggle, more of a chuckle really, if you asked Harry).

"Yes, but of which side..?" Severus muttered.

Footsteps making their way up the stairs to the second floor in hurry and then Albus appeared at the doorway, "Harry! Severus!" His tone was near frantic, quite uncharacteristic for the old and usually so composed wizard. He stopped dead as his eyes slid over to Voldemort's remains, "Tom?"

"He lost his head, Headmaster", Harry giggled and then coughed embarrassed, "Sorry, that was entirely inappropriate. It's the passing adrenaline high, I imagine."

"Really, Harry? You're blaming adrenaline for the giggling?" Severus asked incredulous.

"It wasn't giggling!" Harry whined, "And yes, yes I am! It's an entirely possible explanation!"

"Of course it is", Severus replied, tone indicating he believed the exact opposite.

"But what about the Horcruxes?" Albus asked while cautiously approaching Voldemort's detached head.

"Oh we dealt with those", Harry dismissively replied and then pointed at the pile of ash Nagini had been reduced to, "_His_ snake was the last one." He then clapped his hands together and asked: "I take it dinner's ready then?"

"What?" Albus frowned in confusion by the sudden change in topic.

"Dinner? Since you realized we weren't at HQ? I doubt you all would have realized there was any reason to worry until we didn't show up for dinner", Harry explained.

"Yes, Molly made quite a fuss about your absence", Albus replied.

"Great!" Harry exclaimed, "I was starting to feel rather peckish." He started towards the door but then stopped, "Oh! I nearly forgot!" He walked to Albus, dug out a rat from his pocket and tossed it to the Headmaster, "You can take that to the Aurors, right? Since you'll have to go to the Ministry anyway..?"

Albus lifted the filthy rat by its tail, "Peter?"

"Have fun at the Ministry!" Harry said and then swept out of the room, Severus following him not far behind. Before they made it to the front door, they had come across half the Order and Harry had expertly blown them off, simply telling everyone he'd see them at the Headquarters. One Apparition and few steps later Harry was eagerly entering the kitchen and taking a seat at the largely unoccupied dining table and piling his plate. "Where's everyone?" Harry asked suddenly, looking around the room. Only Molly and the younger Weasleys were present. And they were staring at him and Severus dumbly. How rude.

Severus heaved a sigh of resignation, "Let's just eat."

"You think they're all at the Riddle Manor?" Harry asked while chewing. "Surely they've realized by now that there's nothing interesting going on there anymore?"

"It might have helped had you stayed to offer a proper explanation", Severus pointed out.

"Oh yeah... I'll probably need to have a chat with the Minister, eh?"

"Yes."

"But it's Christmas! It can wait until after Christmas, right?" Harry asked pouting.

"Of course."

"What does he need to hear from me anyway? I mean, it's rather obvious Voldemort's dead so that's that, right?"

"I'm sure that's exactly how he sees it."

"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?" Harry shot accusing eyes at his husband.

"Wait, V-Voldemort's dead?" Ron asked hesitantly.

Harry made a cutting motion across his neck and said: "Lost his head, he did."

"_He's_ dead? For good?" Molly asked, voice full of hope.

"Quite", Severus confirmed.

Stunned silence. And then... "I need to write Hermione!" Ron ran out of the kitchen.

With a stage whisper Harry said to Severus: "Those two are so going to end up dating."

O O O

It had taken two long hours before Harry and Severus were finally allowed reprieve from constant questioning. The Order members had all returned and everyone had wanted to hear every last detail. Seeing as how they didn't want to spread the whole Horcrux side of things, they (mostly Harry) ended up painting a slightly exaggerated image of the battle between the two of them and Voldemort and his pet snake to appease their audience. When Remus had finally agreed to go and pick up Hermione (after much begging on Ron's part), Harry had to explain the whole thing again, this time to her and she was a stickler for detail.

So, it wasn't until two hours later that the much awaited peace paid Harry a visit. He still wasn't allowed to leave the mother hens' (Molly and Sirius') sight but at least they had let him retreat to the less crowded corner of the Grimmauld Place parlor. He felt his lips twitch a little as he noticed Severus was being cornered by the two mother hens and getting a serious talking to, no doubt about his part in letting Harry run into a dangerous situation. He was busy watching them when he felt someone sit down next to him, on the window sill he was sitting on. It was Hermione. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment until Harry asked: "Did you ever find anything about the magical light show at our wedding?" With all the slaying Voldemort business going on, he hadn't had the time to pay it much thought himself until now.

"I only found one book that discussed the matter properly", Hermione slowly admitted, "And even that book was vague at best. According to it there have been only a scant few occurrences like it in all magical history. The book mentioned three couples in particular and the author had found only two common nominators between them. In all three cases the couples had been exceptionally powerful, magically. And the marriages are recorded as few of the most successful unions in history. The most recent case being the Flamels, Nicolas and Perenelle."

"Ah, I figured", Harry softly said, his eyes sliding back to look at Severus who was now sitting by the fire, trying to ignore the people around him and sipping Firewhiskey.

"I didn't want to say anything, 'cause I figured you'd freak out, Harry. There was really very little backing behind the authors theories. It's probably just coincidence or something!" Hermione hastily added.

Harry ignored her in favor of asking: "Did it strike you as strange that the contract I signed specified I need to stay married to Severus for five years instead of something like 'until the Dark Lord is permanently defeated'?"

"Well... Yes... But I thought the whole contract was a little odd", Hermione frowned.

"I think she wanted us to feel like we had to truly try to get along or the years would feel like a prison sentence. I think she wanted us to fall in love and realize how perfect we are for each other. This, him and I, never would have been possible without divine intervention, don't you agree?" Harry asked, his tone calm and even and a soft smile playing at his lips.

"In love? Perfect? But Harry – !" Hermione protested.

Harry cut her off, "I think I'm falling in love with him." He ignored Hermione gaping at him. "He's not ready to hear it though, so I'll wait. I still have more than four and half years left to show him, don't I?"

"But..! But, Harry – !"

Harry's eyes were suddenly on her and he placed a finger on her lips, "Shh! Don't tell anyone. Not yet." He then rose and as he was walking past Severus, stopped to tell him he was going to bed and then left the parlor, leaving a rather stunned Hermione behind. He felt Minerva's Guide to Victory warm up in his pocket and he smiled. His goddess would help him win this battle as well, the battle for the heart of one Severus Snape. And the battle after that. And the one after that. There were plenty of blank pages left in the Guide. His goddess wouldn't be leaving him anytime soon.

_End of The Contract and the Guide_

O O O

AN: So this was the last chapter of The Contract and the Guide. Since I feel like I've achieved the two major end goals I had set, Voldie's death and the whole falling in love thing (they are clearly in love or at least falling rapidly and inevitably, right?), I decided it's better to end this story here, lest I destroy the whole structure I built. I have no plans for a sequel yet. It's not very likely I'll end up writing one, but if I do, then it's not going to happen in the near future, sorry. I'm just glad I finally got one of my many unfinished fanfics finished (and posted). Thank you for reading, and especially huge thanks for all the reviews! -rrenvy

Posted March 2th 2013


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